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I have a very definite theory
I call it a theory so that I can be wrong
That a work of art exists only when a spectator has looked at it
Until then it's only something that has been done
That might disappear and nobody will know about it
But the spectator consecrates it by saying
"This is good. We'll keep it."
And the spectator in that case becomes posterity
And posterity keeps the museums full of paintings, don't they?
My impression is that these museums
Called the Prado, called the National Gallery, called the Louvre
Are only receptacles of things that have survived
Probably mediocre paintings
Because they happen to have survived
There's no reason to make them so important and big and beautiful
There's no justification for that
That label of beautiful
They have survived
Why have they survived?
It's not because they are beautiful
It's because they have survived by the law of chance
And I think my real feeling is that a work of art
Is only a work of art for a very short period
There's a life in a work of art but it's short
Even shorter than man's lifetime
I call it twenty years
After twenty years an impressionist painting
Has ceased to be an impressionist painting
Because the material, the color, the paint has darkened so much
It's no more what the man did when he painted it
Alright, that's one way of looking at it
So I apply this rule to all art, artworks
And they, after twenty years, are finished
Their life is over
They survive, alright, because they are curators of art history
And art history is not art
I don't believe in preserving
I think, as I said, a work of art dies
It's a thing of contemporary life
In other words, in your life you might see things
It's because it's contemporary with your life
It's been made at the same time as you were alive
And it has all the requisites of the definition of a work of art
Which is to make
And your contemporaries are making works of art
They are works of art at the time you live
But once you're dead they die too
The reason is that ideas can survive more without distortion, without-
Death is longer for ideas because the language
Stays on for at least a few centuries
In other words, fifty years ago we liked this
A hundred years ago we liked that
Showing the doubtful judgment of humanity on works of art
And that's why I like it to be only twenty years old
To have a short life
I didn't care
Yes, I learned it in Lille
I was lunching with a friend of mine who had it
And Miss Dreyer, she couldn't announce it to me
It was very funny
So, in fact, when she was so much moved by
The fact that she had to announce it to me
My reaction was a very cold reaction
To help her, you see, of charity
Instead of despair
And it didn't-, it was exactly like that
It was not despair at all
I have a very great form of philanthropy of that kind
To accept any malheur as it comes
I mean, I'm not going to fight it too much
I don't fight back
I'm against the word "anti" because it's a
Bit like "atheist" as compared to "believer"
And an atheist is just as much a religious man as the believer is
And an anti-artist is just as much of an artist as the other artist
"Anartist" would be much better if I could change it
Instead of anti-artist, "an" artist
Meaning no artist at all
That would be my conception
I don't mind being an anartist