--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The eye can travel over the surface in a…" description: "\"The eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it moves over nature. It should feel caressed and soothed, experience frictions and ru..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05c/bridget-riley-21227_artist_the-eye-can-travel-over-the-surface-in-a_1685813.jpg" --- # The eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to… ![“The eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it moves over nature. It should feel caressed and soothed, experience frictions and ruptures, glide and drift. One moment, there will be nothing to look at and the next second the canvas seems to refill, to be crowded with visual…” quote by Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05c/bridget-riley-21227_artist_the-eye-can-travel-over-the-surface-in-a_1685813.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05c/bridget-riley-21227_artist_the-eye-can-travel-over-the-surface-in-a_1685813.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05c/bridget-riley-21227_artist_the-eye-can-travel-over-the-surface-in-a_1685813.jpg) > “The eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it moves over nature. It should feel caressed and soothed, experience frictions and ruptures, glide and drift. One moment, there will be nothing to look at and the next second the canvas seems to refill, to be crowded with visual events.” [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote describes how visual perception moves across a surface, feeling both smooth and textured, with moments of emptiness and sudden visual richness. **In simple terms:** Seeing art is a shifting, tactile experience with pauses and bursts of detail. Key Takeaway Observe how visual flow changes and notice the contrast. Themes perception visual art movement texture contrast Mood contemplative artistic curious Type descriptive inspirational When to use this quote - gallery viewing - digital design - film cinematography - interior decoration Key Concepts Gestalt theory visual rhythm sensory experience Questions to Reflect On - How does the eye respond to visual rhythm? - What creates the feeling of being caressed by a surface? A Different Perspective The description may be too poetic for practical analysis, limiting concrete application. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Canvas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/canvas/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Friction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friction/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Refills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refills/) ## Related quotes > [“...because every girl should feel caressed with love and passion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-poirot/because-every-girl-should-feel-caressed-with-love-and-passion/) [Ken Poirot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-poirot/) > [Skateboarders are envied by people because they just glide so free. Any time something moves like water, they’ll make a dam. 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In other words, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-achor/the-contents-of-the-glass-don-t-matter-what-s-more-important-is-to/) [Shawn Achor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-achor/) > [and I get refill number three or four and the wine is making my bones loose and it's giving my hair a red sheen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aimee-bender/and-i-get-refill-number-three-or-four-and-the-wine-is-making-my-bones/) [Aimee Bender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aimee-bender/) > [“I make love like I make coffee. Tuesdays and Thursdays I offer free refills. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-make-love-like-i-make-coffee-tuesdays-and-thursdays-i-offer-free/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [I trust you have seen the ocean. If you have, then you have witnessed the divine. How barren the ground is in comparison! 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I have to get away to refill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bukowski/people-empty-me-i-have-to-get-away-to-refill/) [Charles Bukowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bukowski/) > [A writer can be compared to a well. There are as many kinds of wells as there are writers. The important thing is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/a-writer-can-be-compared-to-a-well-there-are-as-many-kinds-of-wells/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [We must always refill and ensure there is a critical mass of leaders and activists committed to nonviolence and racial and economic justice who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marian-wright-edelman/we-must-always-refill-and-ensure-there-is-a-critical-mass-of-leaders/) [Marian Wright Edelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marian-wright-edelman/) ## More by Bridget Riley > [It is important that the painting can be inhabited, so that the mind's eye, or the eye's mind, can move about it credibly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/it-is-important-that-the-painting-can-be-inhabited-so-that-the-mind-s/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I work with nature, although in completely new terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-work-with-nature-although-in-completely-new-terms/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [It was only after I had been out of the art school that I actually copied a small Seurat, and I copied it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/it-was-only-after-i-had-been-out-of-the-art-school-that-i-actually/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [Painters have always needed a sort of veil upon which they can focus their attention. It's as though the more fully the consciousness is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/painters-have-always-needed-a-sort-of-veil-upon-which-they-can-focus/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [An artist's early work is inevitably made up of a mixture of tendencies and interests, some of which are compatible and some of which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/an-artist-s-early-work-is-inevitably-made-up-of-a-mixture-of/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [If you can allow colour to breathe, to occupy its own space, to play its own game in its unstable way, it's wanton behaviour,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/if-you-can-allow-colour-to-breathe-to-occupy-its-own-space-to-play/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [The word 'paradox' has always had a kind of magic for me, and I think my pictures have a paradoxical quality, a paradox of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/the-word-paradox-has-always-had-a-kind-of-magic-for-me-and-i-think-my/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [An artist's failures are as valuable as his successes: by misjudging one thing he conforms something else, even if at the time he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/an-artist-s-failures-are-as-valuable-as-his-successes-by-misjudging/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [His failures are as valuable as his successes: by misjudging one thing he conforms something else, even if at the time he does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/his-failures-are-as-valuable-as-his-successes-by-misjudging-one-thing/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [The actual basis of colour is instability. Once you accept that in lieu of something which is stable, which is form, you are dealing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/the-actual-basis-of-colour-is-instability-once-you-accept-that-in/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [In my earlier paintings, I wanted the space between the picture plane and the spectator to be active. It was in that space, paradoxically,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/in-my-earlier-paintings-i-wanted-the-space-between-the-picture-plane/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I work on two levels. I occupy my conscious mind with things to do, lines to draw, movements to organize, rhythms to invent. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-work-on-two-levels-i-occupy-my-conscious-mind-with-things-to-do/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [Painting is, I think, inevitably an archaic activity and one that depends on spiritual values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/painting-is-i-think-inevitably-an-archaic-activity-and-one-that/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I never make studies from nature. They would get in the way. I make use of my mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-never-make-studies-from-nature-they-would-get-in-the-way-i-make-use/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I used to build up to sensation, accumulating tension until it released a perceptual experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-used-to-build-up-to-sensation-accumulating-tension-until-it/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) [Explore all 29 Bridget Riley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) ## More Artist quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [“People in coats and ties were milling around the Talley gallery, and on the wall were the minimally rendered still lifes by Giorgio Morandi,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-martin/people-in-coats-and-ties-were-milling-around-the-talley-gallery-and/) [Steve Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-martin/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-lucia/from-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-was-always-fond-of-drawing/) [St. Lucia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-lucia/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. 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This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-arkin/i-don-t-believe-in-competitions-between-artists-this-is-insane-who/) [Alan Arkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-arkin/) > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [I am a horrible visual artist. I can't fix a car, sew, knit, cook, etc. Statistically, there is more I don't do than do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-brownstein/i-am-a-horrible-visual-artist-i-can-t-fix-a-car-sew-knit-cook-etc/) [Carrie Brownstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-brownstein/) [Browse all 32,600 Artist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it moves over nature. It should feel caressed and soothed, experience frictions and ruptures, glide and drift. 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