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September 9, 2007
experience and boldness
Experience is absolutely necessary in order to learn all that may be done with one’s own instrument of expression, and more especially to avoid what should not even be attempted. When a man is immature he plunges into all kinds of senseless experiments, and by attempting to force his art to yield more than it either can or should concede, he fails to reach even a small degree of superiority within the bounds of what is possible. Experience alone can give even to the most talented artist the confidence that he has done everything that could possibly be done. Only fools and weaklings torture themselves by trying to achieve the impossible.
And yet we need to be very bold. Without daring, without extreme daring even, there is no beauty. We must therefore be almost beyond ourselves, if we are to achieve all that we are capable of! Happy are they who, like Voltaire and other great men, can reach a state of inspiration on fresh water and a plain diet.
Eugene Delacroix
Posted by amin at September 9, 2007 11:36 AM