The ultimate justification of the work of art is to help the spectator to become a work of art himself.
BERNARD BERENSONThe ultimate justification of the work of art is to help the spectator to become a work of art himself.
BERNARD BERENSONOne can repent even of having repented.
BERNARD BERENSONGenius is the capacity for productive reaction against one’s training.
BERNARD BERENSONAs I got warmed up, and felt perfectly at home in talk, I heard myself boasting, lying, exaggerating. Oh, not deliberately, far from it. It would be unconvivial and dull to stop and arrest the flow of talk, and speak only after carefully considering whether I was telling the truth.
BERNARD BERENSONI would willingly stand at street corners, hat in hand, begging passerby to drop their unused minutes into it.
BERNARD BERENSONYou can parody and make fun of almost anything, but that does not turn the universe into a caricature.
BERNARD BERENSON[Describing his house:] It is a library with living rooms attached.
BERNARD BERENSONThere are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man’s reason has never learnt to separate them.
BERNARD BERENSONInternational affairs will be placed on a better footing when it is understood that there is no way of punishing a people for the crimes of its rulers.
BERNARD BERENSONGovernment lasts as long as the under-taxed can defend themselves against the over-taxed.
BERNARD BERENSONIn figure painting, the type of all painting, I have endeavoured to set forth that the principal if not sole source of life enchantments are Tactile Values, Movement and Space Composition.
BERNARD BERENSONThe artist, depicting man disdainful of the storm and stress of life, is no less reconciling and healing than the poet who, while endowing Nature and Humanity, rejoices in its measureless superiority to human passions and human sorrows.
BERNARD BERENSONHow can I regain even for a minute the feeling of ample leisure I had during my early, my creative years? Then I seldom felt fussed, or hurried.
BERNARD BERENSONWe usually meet all of our relatives only at funerals where somebody always observes: “Too bad we can’t get together more often”.
BERNARD BERENSONEnemies could become the best companions. Companionship is based on a common interest, and the greater the interest the closer the companionship. What makes enemies of people, if not the eagerness, the passion for the same thing?
BERNARD BERENSONI would I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours.
BERNARD BERENSON