“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.”
The above saying is credited to Pablo Picasso. In his case, you can see how art is a “lie” because people don’t really have noses growing out of the side of their head. But let’s not be so literal! I have always liked this saying, because I believe the basic sentiment is that art is something that is not real that shines a light to make us realize what is real. We see a beautiful painting, or watch a wonderful movie, and we appreciate life more.
One thing I will never forget is seeing some made-for-tv movie years and years ago, it was a real melodrama about some teenage girl that got pregnant and had an abortion and got really sick, and I don’t remember exactly, but she may have died. This was a made-up story, but the drama and the emotions were so real and made me think “Man! It’s not worth taking that risk!” I’m not saying made-for-TV movies are necessarily “art,” but the suffering of these imaginary characters helped me to make some decisions about what I thought would be smart or not smart behavior in real life. It is always a good thing to learn from other people’s mistakes, even if those other people are not necessarily real people.
Anyway, that’s my thought on all this. I was talking with Mary about this the other day and she strongly disagreed, taking exception to the term “lie” because she interprets it as “deception” and does not see how a deception can lead to truth. Mare, if you read this, you may want to expound upon your viewpoint. I’m just wondering how other people view this statement.
Artists of all types, feel free to comment!
Well, I interpret “lie” pretty literally, as something that is not true or real, but is being presented as if it were true or real. I think art pretty much has to be a lie, by that definition. A painting, sketch, sculpture, movie, cartoon, whatever, is only a representation of something else or of something imaginary, it can never be true in itself except as an object. But most art is not meant only to represent, it’s meant to shed a new light on things and take new meanings from them, which is why it’s fun to study. I think it’s similar to when somebody tells us a lie and we know they’re lying to us, but we can often infer things from their lie that they didn’t say directly. Lies and truth can be tied together like that sometimes. Like the book Animal Farm. Interpreted literally, it’s kind of dumb. But we aren’t meant to think of the animals as actual animals on a farm, it’s only a metaphor. Hardly any of the stuff I like can be taken literally and still enjoyed. The fantasy genre, for instance, is entirely a lie. But the characters can still act like actual people would, and the situations are still interesting even though we know they could never actually happen, and we can still draw truths from the stories.
Thank you! I see that you get it. In fact, you seem to take it one step further by saying it HAS TO BE a lie. METAPHOR!!! Yes!
Maybe as a metaphor it could work, but I still don’t like it. I mean, ‘lie’ has as much of a negative connotation as ‘cult’ does. Not only that, but it is not an unfounded negative connotation! Any saying has to take into account people’s reaction to the words it uses. To use a word like ‘lie’ is taking the risk of making art sound bad. Maybe ‘interpretation’ doesn’t work either. Maybe that should be replaced with ‘reality’.
Don’t get me wrong, I know what he meant and what he was trying to say, but I don’t think it makes sense due mainly to the literal definition of ‘lie’ and the cultural connotation of ‘lie’.
Wasn’t he french? Well, if he was, maybe ‘lie’ means something different in their language or perhaps it was mistranslated. I dunno. Anyway, if you can prove that in French it means something different, I’ll agree. But until then I stand firm that it was badly worded and so diminishes the effect. 🙂
Egad! Or was he Spanish…I can’t remember…:-
Ungh…::groans:: I don’t feel like it right now…sorry. 🙂 lol
I couldn’t help myself…:)
I agree with the concept, just not the workding. I think “lie” is a bad word. I think it is better said “Art is an interpretation that makes us realize the truth” or something.
lie2 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (l)
n.
A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.
Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.
That’s why I disagree. But ony with the wording. 🙂
Re: I couldn’t help myself…:)
But when you compare the word “interpretation” to the word “truth” you lose the power of the comparison. And see what thatpirategirl said above. She gets it!