--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Where the Old Masters created an illusion…" description: "\"Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg" --- # Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into… ![“Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can look, can travel through, only with the eye.” quote by Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg) > “Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can look, can travel through, only with the eye.” [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. Old Masters created immersive space; Modernist art offers a visual journey limited to the eye’s perspective. **In simple terms:** Old art invites walking; modern art invites looking. Key Takeaway Appreciate differing spatial experiences. Themes art history modernism perception illusion Mood analytical appreciative Type critical historical When to use this quote - museum curation - art education - creative design Key Concepts visual arts philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does visual perspective shape emotional response? - Can modern art evoke space beyond sight? A Different Perspective Modernist limits may restrict emotional immersion. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Creating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creating/) [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusion/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) ## Related quotes > [I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-t-hall/i-was-well-traveled-and-i-created-this-illusion-of-literacy-through/) [Tom T. Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-t-hall/) > [“The vision that had emerged from the invisible was returning to the invisible. It was no more an appearance that was fading away, having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/the-vision-that-had-emerged-from-the-invisible-was-returning-to-the/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-mandela/the-power-of-imagination-created-the-illusion-that-my-vision-went/) [Nelson Mandela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-mandela/) > [The Charlie Manson that you've created, that's not me. That's only an illusion in your minds, it hasn't got anything to do with me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-manson/the-charlie-manson-that-you-ve-created-that-s-not-me-that-s-only-an/) [Charles Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-manson/) > [''There is no truth it is an illusion created by the mind to control your thoughts and perception''](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/there-is-no-truth-it-is-an-illusion-created-by-the-mind-to-control/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [“I am convinced now that the desert has no heart, that it presents a riddle which has no answer, and that the riddle itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/i-am-convinced-now-that-the-desert-has-no-heart-that-it-presents-a/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“The "Mona Lisa" is an optical illusion created by Leonardo Da Vinci. The woman in the painting "The Mona Lisa" doesn't appear to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avijeet-das/the-mona-lisa-is-an-optical-illusion-created-by-leonardo-da-vinci-the/) [Avijeet Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avijeet-das/) > [What you think is an illusion created by your glands, your emotions and, in the last analysis, by the content of your stomach. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/what-you-think-is-an-illusion-created-by-your-glands-your-emotions/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“The flower inside the fruit that is both its parent and its child. Decadent as ancestors. The portal and that which passes. Nuclear devices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-d-moore/the-flower-inside-the-fruit-that-is-both-its-parent-and-its-child/) [Ronald D. Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-d-moore/) > [Magic is the illusion which is created when a series of natural movements apparently causes an unnatural, or magical, result.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-hugard/magic-is-the-illusion-which-is-created-when-a-series-of-natural/) Jean Hugard > [No matter what the illusion created, it is a flat canvas and it has to be organized into shapes...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/no-matter-what-the-illusion-created-it-is-a-flat-canvas-and-it-has-to/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [The choreographer and the dancer must remember that they reach the audience through the eye. It's the illusion created which convinces the audience, much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-balanchine/the-choreographer-and-the-dancer-must-remember-that-they-reach-the/) [George Balanchine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-balanchine/) > [“She looked at me for a long time and then pulled an old envelope out of the trash and drew a pear on it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-july/she-looked-at-me-for-a-long-time-and-then-pulled-an-old-envelope-out/) [Miranda July](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-july/) > [The passage of time is simply an illusion created by our brains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barbour/the-passage-of-time-is-simply-an-illusion-created-by-our-brains/) [Julian Barbour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barbour/) > [“The universe is an illusion, created by consciousness to entertain itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anje-kruger/the-universe-is-an-illusion-created-by-consciousness-to-entertain/) Anje Kruger ## 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/) > [The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sheer-texture-into-apparently/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) [Explore all 39 Clement Greenberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) ## More Art quotes > [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/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [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/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“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 > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can look, can travel through, only with the eye.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Clement Greenberg" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusion-of-space-into-which-one/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusion-of-space-into-which-one/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/clement-greenberg-16776_art_where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusio_2963140.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion…” — 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": "Where the Old Masters created an...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusion-of-space-into-which-one/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusion-of-space-into-which-one/#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 } } ] } ```