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About this quote

What does it mean?
Explaining visual art with words often misses the point and fails to capture its value.
In plain terms
Words often fail to explain what a picture shows.
What can you take from it?
Experience art directly instead of analyzing it.

Where it applies

  • museum visits
  • art classes
  • critique sessions

Putting it to work

  • teaching art
  • writing reviews
  • personal viewing

Questions to consider

  • Can art speak for itself?
  • When is explanation useful?

Another view

Context and history sometimes need explanation to be understood.

More from Pablo Picasso

  1. Art is not made to decorate rooms. It is an offensive weapon in the defense against the enemy.

    Permalink to quote #3
  2. Painting isn't an aethetic operation; it's a form of magic designed as mediator between this strange hostile world and us.

    Permalink to quote #5
  3. It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it, and I don't care.

    Permalink to quote #2

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