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November 29, 2007

explaining a picture is impossible

All in all, art represents the need of one human being to communicate with another. By whatever means - each as good as another. In painting as in literature, one often confuses the means with the end. Nature is the means, not the end. If one can achieve something by changing nature, one must do it.

In an strongly emotional state of mind, a landscape will have a particular effect on me. By portraying this landscape, one will produce a painting which is affected by one's mood. This mood is the main thing. Nature is simply the means. Whether or not the painting looks like that landscape is besides the point. Explaining a picture is impossible. The very reason it has been painted is because it cannot be explained in any other way. One can simply give a slight inkling of the direction one has been working towards.


Edvard Munch

Posted by amin at November 29, 2007 6:40 PM