--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The dissolution of the pictorial into…" description: "\"The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answe..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg" --- # The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into… ![“The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something profound in contemporary sensibility.” quote by Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg) > “The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something profound in contemporary sensibility.” [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) ## 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 suggests that modern art's focus on texture and repetition reflects deep contemporary feelings. **In simple terms:** Modern art mirrors deep current emotions. Key Takeaway Notice how texture and repetition convey feeling. Themes art modernism perception texture repetition Mood contemplative analytical Type critical theoretical When to use this quote - gallery visits - art criticism - creative practice - educational lectures Key Concepts Aesthetics contemporary sensibility visual language Questions to Reflect On - How does texture shape emotional response? - What does repetition reveal about society? A Different Perspective May overlook narrative content in favor of form. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accumulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accumulation/) [Dissolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dissolution/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Sensations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensations/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) ## Related quotes > [The art in photography is literary art before it is anything else: its triumphs and monuments are historical, anecdotal, reportorial, observational before they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-art-in-photography-is-literary-art-before-it-is-anything-else-its/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The only pictorial matter that is of interest to me is the matter and sentiments brought about by the work itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-only-pictorial-matter-that-is-of-interest-to-me-is-the-matter-and/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Let's talk about the artist's desire to go beyond the pictorial or the representational and the desire to create the abstract - the idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/let-s-talk-about-the-artist-s-desire-to-go-beyond-the-pictorial-or/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [There is a clear acknowledgement all over the world that we should not teach people to read and then to leave them without literature.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-d-patel/there-is-a-clear-acknowledgement-all-over-the-world-that-we-should/) A. D. Patel > [Self-painting is a further development of painting. The pictorial surface has lost its function as sole expressive support. It was led back to its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-brus/self-painting-is-a-further-development-of-painting-the-pictorial/) [Gunter Brus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-brus/) > [The essential of painting is that 'something', that 'ethereal glue,' that 'intermediary product' which the artist exudes with all his creative being and which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yves-klein/the-essential-of-painting-is-that-something-that-ethereal-glue-that/) [Yves Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yves-klein/) > [The art of pictorial creation is so complicated - it is so astronomical in its possibilities of relation and combination that it would take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-hofmann/the-art-of-pictorial-creation-is-so-complicated-it-is-so-astronomical/) [Hans Hofmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-hofmann/) > [The pictorial work was born of movement, is itself recorded movement, and is assimilated through movement (eye muscles).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-pictorial-work-was-born-of-movement-is-itself-recorded-movement/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [The art of motion pictures is pictorial and language comes a distant second.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-annaud/the-art-of-motion-pictures-is-pictorial-and-language-comes-a-distant/) [Jean-Jacques Annaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-annaud/) > [You can compare it to dreams: you have a very specific and individual pictorial language that you either accept or that you can translate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/you-can-compare-it-to-dreams-you-have-a-very-specific-and-individual/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [Appalling numbers of youth have been led into a cynical ultra-sophisticated attitude which regards drinking as a badge of social aptitude, which makes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-parker-yockey/appalling-numbers-of-youth-have-been-led-into-a-cynical-ultra/) [Francis Parker Yockey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-parker-yockey/) > [Everyone will be compelled to see that which is optically true, is explicable in its own terms, is objective, before he can arrive at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laszlo-moholy-nagy/everyone-will-be-compelled-to-see-that-which-is-optically-true-is/) [Laszlo Moholy-Nagy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laszlo-moholy-nagy/) > [ \[Dada is\] perfectly kindhearted malice, alongside exact photography the only legitimate pictorial form of communication and balance in shared experience. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raoul-hausmann/dada-is-perfectly-kindhearted-malice-alongside-exact-photography-the/) Raoul Hausmann > [The focus in the Western pictorial tradition is on the body of Christ, the bit you can paint, the Nativity and the infancy, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-macgregor/the-focus-in-the-western-pictorial-tradition-is-on-the-body-of-christ/) [Neil MacGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-macgregor/) > [I want to make exalted art. A successful image has pictorial lift. I am looking for whatever is up there](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-stella/i-want-to-make-exalted-art-a-successful-image-has-pictorial-lift-i-am/) [Frank Stella](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-stella/) ## More by Clement Greenberg > [The avant-garde poet or artist tries in effect to imitate God by creating something valid solely on its own terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-avant-garde-poet-or-artist-tries-in-effect-to-imitate-god-by/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The peasant finds no "natural" urgency within himself that will drive him toward Picasso in spite of all difficulties. In the end the peasant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-peasant-finds-no-natural-urgency-within-himself-that-will-drive/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The paradox in the evolution of French painting from Courbet to Cezanne is how it was brought to the verge of abstraction in and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-paradox-in-the-evolution-of-french-painting-from-courbet-to/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [It has become apparent that art can have a startling impact without really being or saying anything startling — or new. The character itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/it-has-become-apparent-that-art-can-have-a-startling-impact-without/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Art is a matter strictly of experience, not of principles and what counts first and last in art is quality, all other things are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/art-is-a-matter-strictly-of-experience-not-of-principles-and-what/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Photography is the most transparent of the art mediums devised or discovered by man. It is probably for this reason that it proves so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/photography-is-the-most-transparent-of-the-art-mediums-devised-or/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Where Picasso paints cause, Repin paints effect. Repin predigests art for the spectator and provides a short cut to the pleasure of art that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/where-picasso-paints-cause-repin-paints-effect-repin-predigests-art/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [For every good art critic there may be ten great artists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/for-every-good-art-critic-there-may-be-ten-great-artists/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The superior artist is the one who knows how to be influenced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-superior-artist-is-the-one-who-knows-how-to-be-influenced/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [A large picture can give us images of things, but a relatively small one can best re-create the instantaneous unity of nature as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/a-large-picture-can-give-us-images-of-things-but-a-relatively-small/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The reality of art is disclosed only in experience, not in reflection upon experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-reality-of-art-is-disclosed-only-in-experience-not-in-reflection/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [You like it, that's all, whether it's a landscape or abstract. You like it. It hits you. You don't have to read it. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/you-like-it-that-s-all-whether-it-s-a-landscape-or-abstract-you-like/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Once efficiency is universally accepted as a rule, it becomes an inner compulsion and weighs like a sense of sin, simply because no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/once-efficiency-is-universally-accepted-as-a-rule-it-becomes-an-inner/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Nothing could be further from the authentic art of our time than the idea of a rupture of continuity. Art is - among other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/nothing-could-be-further-from-the-authentic-art-of-our-time-than-the/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [One is also reminded of how, in art, the tortoise so often overtakes the hare...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/one-is-also-reminded-of-how-in-art-the-tortoise-so-often-overtakes/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) [Explore all 39 Clement Greenberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) ## More Accumulation quotes > [Age is an accumulation of life and loss. Adulthood is a series of lines crossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-goodman/age-is-an-accumulation-of-life-and-loss-adulthood-is-a-series-of/) [Ellen Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-goodman/) > [Before World War II, I was living a very cloistered existence, as most cartoonists do. The work I was pouring out did not come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-eisner/before-world-war-ii-i-was-living-a-very-cloistered-existence-as-most/) [Will Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-eisner/) > [It is more than a little ironic that "capital accumulation" once a rather tendentious Marxian view of a supposed capitalist obsession, should have become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kuttner/it-is-more-than-a-little-ironic-that-capital-accumulation-once-a/) [Robert Kuttner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kuttner/) > [The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/the-accumulation-of-all-powers-legislative-executive-and-judiciary-in/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-think-that-only-daring-speculation-can-lead-us-further-and-not/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Karma is often wrongly confused with the notion of a fixed destiny. It is more like an accumulation of tendencies that can lock us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/karma-is-often-wrongly-confused-with-the-notion-of-a-fixed-destiny-it/) [Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/) > [There has been, for some reason (or more likely an unfortunate accumulation of reasons) a trend over the past several decades for parents to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-hax/there-has-been-for-some-reason-or-more-likely-an-unfortunate/) [Carolyn Hax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-hax/) > [Ageing is, simply and clearly, the accumulation of damage in the body. That's all that ageing is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aubrey-de-grey/ageing-is-simply-and-clearly-the-accumulation-of-damage-in-the-body/) [Aubrey de Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aubrey-de-grey/) > [For me, personally, there is one really interesting thing. You're all a bit too young for that, but when you get to a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-waltz/for-me-personally-there-is-one-really-interesting-thing-you-re-all-a/) [Christoph Waltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-waltz/) > [The mounting burden of taxation not only undermines individual incentives to increased work and earnings, but in a score of ways discourages capital accumulation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/the-mounting-burden-of-taxation-not-only-undermines-individual/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/when-the-accumulation-of-wealth-is-no-longer-of-high-social/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-alexander-eastman/the-native-american-has-been-generally-despised-by-his-white/) [Charles Alexander Eastman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-alexander-eastman/) > [The soul lives forever by giving, not receiving. This is the grand paradox. You get most by giving most. Conversely, by receiving much you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-johnson/the-soul-lives-forever-by-giving-not-receiving-this-is-the-grand/) [Julian Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-johnson/) > [Forgiveness of the present is even more important than forgiveness of the past. If you forgive every moment - allow it to be as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/forgiveness-of-the-present-is-even-more-important-than-forgiveness-of/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kennedy/too-much-and-too-long-we-seem-to-have-surrendered-community/) [Robert Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kennedy/) [Browse all 412 Accumulation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accumulation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something profound in contemporary sensibility.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Clement Greenberg" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sheer-texture-into-apparently/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Accumulation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sheer-texture-into-apparently/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70c/clement-greenberg-16776_accumulation_the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sh_1382803.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation…” — Clement Greenberg", "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": "Clement Greenberg", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The dissolution of the pictorial into...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sheer-texture-into-apparently/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sheer-texture-into-apparently/#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 } } ] } ```