Quotes by Herbert Read

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Art represents the ability given to man to separate a form from the swirling chaos of his sensations, and to contemplate this form in its uniqueness.

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Art is what determines in the most direct way that the being lasts by establishing itself in something present, that is, in the work of art. For this reason, art must always be revolutionary, for in our existential situation we cannot remain inactive (inactivity in this sense is a death in life).

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We constantly struggle with appearances and against the nothingness that is death. We are always threatened by spiritual and mental disintegration, the prelude to physical disintegration and death, and art represents the effort to resist disintegration, to regain our being from outer confusion.

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If the aesthetic experience is removed, the very vital link between man and his social environment is removed, the harmony and joy of existence is destroyed.

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The tribute you pay to the artist is the tribute to a man who has proven himself able to solve your own emotional problems for you through his special qualities.

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If we are superior to animals, if our spirit can be intoxicated with the idea of ​​glory, and so rise above the horror of nothingness, it is because we possess the gift of making images, that luminous replica of all poetic and philosophical works. But we possess this gift only to the extent that all of us, according to our powers and capacities, are in direct contact with the development and form of the visible world.

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Art is not an abstraction; it is a human activity, carried out only through the mediation of a personality. The quality of this personality will overwhelm the abstract qualities of art, and the value of art depends on the depth of human feeling.