Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another's view of the universe which is not the same as ours and see landscapes which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon. And many centuries after their core, whether we call it Rembrandt or Vermeer, is extinguished, they continue to send us their special rays. The Maxims of Marcel Proust , translated by Justin O'Brien, published 1948. Surely all art is the result of one's having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further.
True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.
See Bauhaus . Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. For Arp, art is Arp. From a catalogue, Arp , Galleria Schwarz, Milan, 1965. Modern Sculpture .