the function of art

"Allowing that the function of art is to transmute what in reality is almost unbearable, what in life is so moving because it is so beautiful or so frightening that we can hardly face it straight for ourselves, then the attitude of an artist who takes such experiences apart for us and puts them together again in a manner that we can look at them is ... idealistic ... creating a work of art is (an act) of faith in man's ability to construct as well as destroy ... the artist's optimism is to be shared; all good work is a celebration of affection."

from Picasso by Keith Sutton, published by Paul Hamlyn, London, 1962.

Alain de Botton on Montaigne

from The consolations of philosophy,  Penguin, 2000.

p. 158 "... being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say."


p. 159 "But writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded ... Montaigne wondered whether the majority of university scholars would have appreciated Socrates, a man they professed to revere above all others, if he had approached them in their own towns, devoid of the prestige of Plato's dialogues, in his dirty cloak, speaking in plain language ... "


p. 160 "It (Montaigne's essay) is a plea ... to refrain from considering ourselves as fools if, because of a hole in our budget or our education, our cloaks are simple and our vocabulary no larger than that of a stallholder in Les Halles."


http://www.alaindebotton.com/philosophy.asp

Picasso

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once one grows up."