8/2/2019 Picasso's Musings on His Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/picassos-musings-on-his-art 1/2

IN LIBRO NERO, 1952, PABLO PICASSO WAS QUOTED AS

SAYING:

“IN ART THE MASS OF PEOPLE NO LONGER SEEKS CONSOLATION

AND EXALTATION, BUT THOSE WHO ARE REFINED, RICH,

UNOCCUPIED, WHO ARE DISTILLERS OF QUINTESSENCES, SEEK

WHAT IS NEW, STRANGE, ORIGINAL, EXTRAVAGANT,

SCANDALOUS. I MYSELF, SINCE CUBISM AND BEFORE, HAVE

8/2/2019 Picasso's Musings on His Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/picassos-musings-on-his-art 2/2

SATIFIED THESE MASTERS AND CRITICS WITH ALL THE

CHANGING ODDITIES WHICH PASSED THROUGH MY HEAD, AND

THE LESS THEY UNDERSTOOD ME, THE MORE THEY ADMIRED

ME. BY AMUSING MYSELF WITH ALL THESE GAMES, WITH ALL

THESE ABURDITIES, PUZZLES, REBUSES, ARABESQUES, I

BECAME FAMOUS – AND THAT VERY QUICKLY. AND FAME FOR A

PAINTER MEANS SALES, GAINS, FORTUNE, RICHES. AND TODAY,

AS YOU KNOW, I AM CELEBRATED, I AM RICH.

BUT WHEN I AM ALONE WITH MYSELF, I HAVE NOT THE

COURAGE TO THINK OF MYSELF AS AN ARTIST IN THE GREAT

AND ANCIENYT SENSE OF THE TERM. GIOTTO, TITIAN,

REMBRANDT WERE PAINTERS. I AM ONLY A PUBLIC

ENTERTAINER WHO HAS UNDERSTOOD HIS TIMES AND

EXPLOITED AS BEST HE COULD THE IMBECILITY, THE VANITY,

THE CUPIDITY OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. MINE IS A BITER

CONFESSION, MORE PAINFUL THAN IT MAY APPEAR, BUT IT HAS

THE MERIT OF BEING SINCERE.”