“Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism : they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.”

Letter One (17 February 1903)
Letters to a Young Poet (1934)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism : they always result in more or less fortunate misunderst…" by Rainer Maria Rilke?
Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Rainer Maria Rilke 176
Austrian poet and writer 1875–1926

Related quotes

Rainer Maria Rilke photo

“Art and work and art and life are very connected and my whole life has been absurd. There isn't a thing in my life that has happened that hasn't been extreme - personal health, family, economic situations…absurdity is the key word…”

Eva Hesse (1936–1970) German-born American sculptor

Art since 1940, strategies of being, Jonathan Fineberg, copyright Prentice Hall, Inc. 1995. ISBN 0 13 045469 9

Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Bram van Velde photo

“Art is not for the personal satisfaction of one or the other, but art wants to return all what’s in life… Art wants to give back everything what’s in our lives. The more comprehensive the artist stands in life the more powerful his work will speak, and therefore a work of art is a measure of the mental size of his creator.”

Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter

Letter to H. E. Kramer, 25-10-1926, as quoted in: Bram van Velde, A Tribute, Municipal Museum De Lakenhal Leiden, Municipal Museum Schiedam, Museum de Wieger, Deurne 1994, p. 44 (English translation: Charlotte Burgmans)
1920's

Willoughby Sharp photo
Piet Hein photo

“There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness.”

Piet Hein (1905–1996) Danish puzzle designer, mathematician, author, poet

Ars Brevis
Grooks

Pablo Picasso photo
Mark Rothko photo

Related topics