--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Painting is a source of endless pleasure…" description: "\"Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.\" — Balthus" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png" --- # Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of… ![“Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.” quote by Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png) > “Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.” [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art can bring deep joy and profound pain, reflecting the dual nature of creative expression. **In simple terms:** Art gives joy and pain. Key Takeaway Embrace both joy and sorrow in art. Themes creativity emotion artistry Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - painting practice - art therapy - creative workshops Key Concepts Aesthetic duality psychology of art Questions to Reflect On - How does pain fuel your creativity? - Can you separate pleasure from anguish? A Different Perspective Artistic struggle may hinder productivity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a soul full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-work-of-years-and-we-may-come/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“The only endless pleasure in the world is to love and be loved back.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mwanandeke-kindembo/the-only-endless-pleasure-in-the-world-is-to-love-and-be-loved-back/) [Mwanandeke Kindembo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mwanandeke-kindembo/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [The main source of psychopathic diseases is the fundamental instinct of fear with its manifestations, the feeling of anxiety, anguish, and worry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-sidis/the-main-source-of-psychopathic-diseases-is-the-fundamental-instinct/) [Boris Sidis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-sidis/) > [I'm saying that the domain of poetry includes both oral & written forms, that poetry goes back to a pre-literate situation & would survive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-rothenberg/i-m-saying-that-the-domain-of-poetry-includes-both-oral-written-forms/) Jerome Rothenberg > [The energy of the stars becomes us. We become the energy of the stars. Stardust and spirit unite and we begin: one with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-kucinich/the-energy-of-the-stars-becomes-us-we-become-the-energy-of-the-stars/) [Dennis Kucinich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-kucinich/) > [To cover politics in Washington allows you to live in the very, very wide gap between what the actual truth is, and how people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-leibovich/to-cover-politics-in-washington-allows-you-to-live-in-the-very-very/) [Mark Leibovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-leibovich/) > [My work involves the physical manifestation of emotional reality. Thus, the invisible becomes visible; the normal, abnormal; and the familiar, unfamiliar. Ordinary life is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandy-skoglund/my-work-involves-the-physical-manifestation-of-emotional-reality-thus/) [Sandy Skoglund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandy-skoglund/) > [It's a 12-hour cooking class for me on the set of 'Chopped.' You'd think I'd get sick of it, but it's a source of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-allen/it-s-a-12-hour-cooking-class-for-me-on-the-set-of-chopped-you-d-think/) [Ted Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-allen/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) ## More by Balthus > [If you speak of beauty, you are at once suspected of...kitsch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/if-you-speak-of-beauty-you-are-at-once-suspected-of-kitsch/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [I had only planned to strike the gong violently in order to somehow shake people up and make them more aware. I think I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/i-had-only-planned-to-strike-the-gong-violently-in-order-to-somehow/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [The craft of painting has virtually disappeared. There is hardly anyone left who really possesses it. For evidence one has only to look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/the-craft-of-painting-has-virtually-disappeared-there-is-hardly/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/one-must-always-draw-draw-with-the-eyes-when-one-cannot-draw-with-a/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [The best way to begin is to say: 'Balthus is a painter of whom nothing is known. And now let us have a look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/the-best-way-to-begin-is-to-say-balthus-is-a-painter-of-whom-nothing/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [Painting what I experience, translating what I feel, is like a great liberation. But it is also work, self-examination, consciousness, criticism, struggle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-what-i-experience-translating-what-i-feel-is-like-a-great/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [The best way to begin is to say: Balthus is a painter of whom nothing is known. And now let us have a look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/the-best-way-to-begin-is-to-say-balthus-is-a-painter-of-whom-nothing-2/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [I will always find even the worst paintings that attempt some kind of representation better than the best invented paintings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/i-will-always-find-even-the-worst-paintings-that-attempt-some-kind-of/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/i-refuse-to-confide-and-don-t-like-it-when-people-write-about-art/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [Painting is the passage from the chaos of the emotions to the order of the possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-the-passage-from-the-chaos-of-the-emotions-to-the-order/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [Painting is a language which cannot be replaced by another language. I don't know what to say about what I paint, really.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-a-language-which-cannot-be-replaced-by-another-language-i/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always a slight touch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/i-always-feel-the-desire-to-look-for-the-extraordinary-in-ordinary/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) [Explore all 13 Balthus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) ## More Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-bush/it-breaks-my-heart-to-think-about-a-family-weeping-over-the-loss-of-a/) [George P. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-bush/) [Browse all 570 Anguish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Balthus" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure-but-also-of-great-anguish/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anguish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure-but-also-of-great-anguish/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0c/balthus-35208_anguish_painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure_2532520.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.” — Balthus", "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": "Balthus", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Painting is a source of endless...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure-but-also-of-great-anguish/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure-but-also-of-great-anguish/#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 } } ] } ```