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To synthesize is not necessarily to simplify in the sense of suppressing certain parts of the object: it is to simplify in the sense of rendering intelligible. It is, in short, to put in hierarchic order: to set each picture to a single rhythm, to a dominant; it is sacrifice, to subordinate — to generalize.

— Maurice Denis

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More quotes by Maurice Denis

Art is the sanctification of the nature, of that nature found in everyone who is content to live.

The sublime is to approach the subject or wall with an attitude that is grand, noble, and in no way petty..

The profoundness of our emotions comes from the sufficiency of these lines and these colors to explain themselves.. ..everything is contained in the beauty of the work.

Think of late paintings where Christ is the central figure.. .Remember the large mosaics of Rome. Reconcile the employment of large-scale decorative means and the direct emotions of nature.

Art is no longer a visual sensation that we gather, like a photograph, as it were, of nature. No, it is a creation of our spirit, for which nature is only the occasion.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Maurice Denis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.