“All art is probably erotic in its ultimate character, but painting more than anything else is a purely nervous erotic activity… The eroticism of Caravaggio is special because it exists in that area between the simple sensual appreciation of the object which produces the desire to posses it, and the passionate but detached concern of the Observer, which also seeks to posses but to posses through understanding.”

— Patrick Swift

Some Notes on Caravaggio (1956)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Patrick Swift 60

British artist 1927–1983

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“All art is probably erotic in its ultimate character, but painting more than anything else is a purely nervous erotic activity.”

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