--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is a kinship between music and…" description: "\"There is a kinship between music and painting - with the same words used to describe both, as when a musical composition is said to have color and a pa..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg" --- # There is a kinship between music and painting - with the… ![“There is a kinship between music and painting - with the same words used to describe both, as when a musical composition is said to have color and a painting to have rhythm.” quote by Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg) > “There is a kinship between music and painting - with the same words used to describe both, as when a musical composition is said to have color and a painting to have rhythm.” [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Music and painting share descriptive language, like color in music and rhythm in art. **In simple terms:** Art forms use each other's terms to describe qualities. Key Takeaway Explore cross‑modal creativity. Themes art music interdisciplinary creativity Mood inspirational educational Type artistic interdisciplinary When to use this quote - teaching arts - creative workshops - multimedia projects Key Concepts aesthetics synesthesia comparative analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can you apply visual concepts to sound? - What benefits arise from blending artistic vocabularies? A Different Perspective Cross‑disciplinary terms can be confusing without context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) [Kinship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kinship/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Musical composition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/musical-composition/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Rhythm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhythm/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes I feel we express more with dancing or acting or painting than with words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-cruz/sometimes-i-feel-we-express-more-with-dancing-or-acting-or-painting/) [Penelope Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-cruz/) > [Poetry ... is the music and painting of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-orwell/poetry-is-the-music-and-painting-of-the-mind/) Sonia Orwell > [A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miles-davis/a-painting-is-music-you-can-see-and-music-is-a-painting-you-can-hear/) [Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miles-davis/) > [In the 1960s when the recording studio suddenly really took off as a tool, it was the kids from art school who knew how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/in-the-1960s-when-the-recording-studio-suddenly-really-took-off-as-a/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [In part of Lord Kames' Elements of Criticism, he says that "music improves the relish of a banquet." That I deny,--any more than painting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/in-part-of-lord-kames-elements-of-criticism-he-says-that-music/) [Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/) > [Other people's songs can inspire me, though - I always have music on when I'm painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-fox/other-people-s-songs-can-inspire-me-though-i-always-have-music-on/) [Danny Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-fox/) > [I like to listen to a lot of classical music when I'm painting, the most simplistic stuff I can find. I like simple piano.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-fox/i-like-to-listen-to-a-lot-of-classical-music-when-i-m-painting-the/) [Danny Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-fox/) > [“Show me that you can divide the notes of a song; But first, show me that you can discern Between what can be divided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siddhartha-mukherjee/show-me-that-you-can-divide-the-notes-of-a-song-but-first-show-me/) [Siddhartha Mukherjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siddhartha-mukherjee/) > [“For the artist, the goal of the painting or musical composition is not to convey literal truth, but an aspect of a universal truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-the-artist-the-goal-of-the-painting-or-musical-composition-is-not/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [As sounds in a musical composition can be used not to express physical objects but ideas, emotions, harmonies, rhythmic orders and most any expression…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynn-bullock/as-sounds-in-a-musical-composition-can-be-used-not-to-express/) [Wynn Bullock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynn-bullock/) > [Jazz, isn't that just a series of mistakes diguised as musical composition?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-mckean/jazz-isn-t-that-just-a-series-of-mistakes-diguised-as-musical/) [Michael McKean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-mckean/) > [When I create I don't think in technical or mathematical terms until the idea is formulated Musical composition is formulated in improvisation. Once a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-zigman/when-i-create-i-don-t-think-in-technical-or-mathematical-terms-until/) [Aaron Zigman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-zigman/) > [The point of recapitulation in the first movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony unleashes one of the most horrifyingly violent episodes in the history of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-mcclary/the-point-of-recapitulation-in-the-first-movement-of-beethoven-s/) [Susan McClary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-mcclary/) > [Musical compositions, it should be remembered, do not inhabit certain countries, certain museums, like paintings and statues. The Mozart Quintet is not shut up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-rabaud/musical-compositions-it-should-be-remembered-do-not-inhabit-certain/) Henri Rabaud > [Writers and musicians know well the importance of extensive reading for successful writing or extensive listening for musical composition. Likewise, visual artists... understand that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-laseau/writers-and-musicians-know-well-the-importance-of-extensive-reading/) [Paul Laseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-laseau/) ## More by Alton Tobey > [I live an artistic double life: one of classical realism and the other of aesthetic exploration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/i-live-an-artistic-double-life-one-of-classical-realism-and-the-other/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [It is the special privilege of the fine artist to reveal immediate data with a clarity, intensity and purity that promotes them to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/it-is-the-special-privilege-of-the-fine-artist-to-reveal-immediate/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [Every canvas that can awaken us more exquisitely and accurately to the infinite and various surface of our experience does that much to sharpen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/every-canvas-that-can-awaken-us-more-exquisitely-and-accurately-to/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [Every single person is unlike anyone else. Therefore, in creating a portrait of someone... we must look carefully to catch that particular unique quality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/every-single-person-is-unlike-anyone-else-therefore-in-creating-a/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [In the Fragments, sensations are more profound and richly clarified through deliberate and explicit pattern; emotions are given a sequence and development such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/in-the-fragments-sensations-are-more-profound-and-richly-clarified/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [I have, at times, been absorbed in my work to the point of complete self-oblivion. Once I worked for thirty-six hours without a break…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/i-have-at-times-been-absorbed-in-my-work-to-the-point-of-complete/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [Art is the lens through which I experience the world. Art is the medium to present the human condition... love, fear, bewilderment, pleasure, distaste,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/art-is-the-lens-through-which-i-experience-the-world-art-is-the/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [I can be so involved that I am no longer conscious of my needs or even of any pains. But there also have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/i-can-be-so-involved-that-i-am-no-longer-conscious-of-my-needs-or/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [My art career actually began under the kitchen table. My mother wanted to get me out of her hair while she cooked, so she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/my-art-career-actually-began-under-the-kitchen-table-my-mother-wanted/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) [Explore all 10 Alton Tobey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) ## More Color quotes > [We never really perceive what color is physically!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-albers/we-never-really-perceive-what-color-is-physically/) [Josef Albers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-albers/) > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The color of somebody's skin or the way he wears his hair or clothes has nothing to do with anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-color-of-somebody-s-skin-or-the-way-he-wears-his-hair-or-clothes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > ['Lovecraft Country' is reclaiming all these pulp genres for people of color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-green/lovecraft-country-is-reclaiming-all-these-pulp-genres-for-people-of/) [Misha Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-green/) > [When I haven't any blue I use red.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/when-i-haven-t-any-blue-i-use-red/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [A well-fashioned day - with a beginning and an end, a purpose and a content, a color and a character, a feel and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/a-well-fashioned-day-with-a-beginning-and-an-end-a-purpose-and-a/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [If you're white and you're wrong, then you're wrong; if you're black and you're wrong, you're wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-marley/if-you-re-white-and-you-re-wrong-then-you-re-wrong-if-you-re-black/) [Bob Marley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-marley/) > [Today, at Harvard, any student with the currently fashionable color of skin is given rights denied to students of the currently unfashionable color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-capp/today-at-harvard-any-student-with-the-currently-fashionable-color-of/) [Al Capp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-capp/) > [Orange is my favorite color overall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-earnhardt-jr/orange-is-my-favorite-color-overall/) [Dale Earnhardt Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-earnhardt-jr/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [We have to keep in practice like musicians. Besides, there are still potentialities to be realized in color film. To us, it's just like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-land/we-have-to-keep-in-practice-like-musicians-besides-there-are-still/) [Edwin Land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-land/) > [Truth needs no color; beauty, no pencil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/truth-needs-no-color-beauty-no-pencil/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists; not that the child shall know colors, forms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/it-is-exactly-in-the-repetition-of-the-exercises-that-the-education/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) [Browse all 5,594 Color quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is a kinship between music and painting - with the same words used to describe both, as when a musical composition is said to have color and a painting to have rhythm.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alton Tobey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-painting-with-the-same-words/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Color" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-painting-with-the-same-words/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/alton-tobey-42910_color_there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-pai_340335.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is a kinship between music and painting - with the same words used to describe both, as when a musical…” — Alton Tobey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alton Tobey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is a kinship between music...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-painting-with-the-same-words/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/there-is-a-kinship-between-music-and-painting-with-the-same-words/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```