Today we will explore some of the best phrases of Peter Paul Rubens, one of the great figures of Baroque painting (1577-1640), an artist who studied in Belgium and then moved to Italy, where he absorbed all the knowledge of his mentor, the Duke of Mantua.
Painting became his profession and there was no lack of commissions in the workshop he opened, Rubens left an important mark of his personality in his works, but today we have compiled some of peter Paul Rubens’ most interesting phrases to get a little closer to the painter’s way of thinking.
- However.
- Before delving into it.
- It is worth knowing that Rubens also cultivated a different type of art.
- The article The View of Peter Paul Rubens (The Vision of Peter Paul Rubens) correctly exposes his journey beyond painting in the form of sculptures and tapesperses.
In total, some 3,000 works were dedicated. So let’s talk about a multifaceted artist.
“I am only a man standing, alone with his old brushes, asking God for inspiration. “
This phrase by Peter Paul Rubens shows that he was a simple and humble man, in fact, when you go over his biography, you see that he grew up in a family that struggled financially, perhaps that’s why Rubens despised the arrogant. .
Although he knew he was a good painter, he never stopped learning from the best, so there are different influences on his art. The only thing Rubens feared was the lack of inspiration, the basis of any creative work.
“All children have the spirit of creation. Does waste of life often exterminate the mind through the boredom and misery of the soul?
Peter Paul Rubens’ second sentence is related to creativity. Young children always have fantastic ideas, many of which seem crazy, but what happens when these young people grow up?They tend to lose that ability.
Rubens evokes “the boredom and misery of the soul” because he was Catholic. He believed that the spirit of creation could be recovered thank God.
He painted one of his paintings as a form of Propaganda of Catholicism to combat Protestantism. This work is Santa Teresa interceding for Bernardino de Mendoza in Purgatory.
“My passion comes from heaven, not from earthly reflections. “
As we can see, there are many phrases in which Rubens is very aware of God, here he combines his passion for painting in heaven, the place where God is according to Catholics, on the other hand, speaks of earthly reflections, minimizing them. .
This phrase shows that Rubens questioned the reflections that ordinary people (athes) or whose religion was different from the one he practiced, in fact, gives God responsibility for his creativity and passion for painting.
“White is toxic to a painting: use it only on the highlighted parts. “
With this phrase, Rubens leaves us a little irrelevant. One way or another, what he thinks of white is two contradictory ideas. He believes that the target should not be abused, as it calls it “toxic”. However, it states that it should only be used to draw attention to certain areas of a painting.
Perhaps what you are trying to convey to us with this phrase is that, in excess, white color can damage a work, but if it is only used when it is really necessary to give small touches of light in specific parts, it can be very useful.
This reminds us of the famous phrase that says “everything excess is bad”. In fact, we can see a clear example in pharmacology: many drugs become toxic when the dose we ingest is higher than prescribed.
“My talent, though great, has never surpassed my courage. “
Many people tend to define the same according to their talent, if it is true that Rubens was aware of his talent, with this statement he makes it clear that he would never allow this ability to outweigh his value.
A person’s courage is not defined by what he has, nor by what he has achieved, nor by his talent, as Rubens rightly says, perhaps it is another sign of that rejection he felt for pride, because this characteristic may end up blinding a man. making us forget who we really are.
We hope you know a little more about how this artist thinks, if you’ve never seen one of his works, we invite you to take a look at the ones we mentioned in this article and others like The Three Graces.