--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I like those very realistic paintings…" description: "\"“I like those very realistic paintings that look like photographs, or novels that are so much like actual life that you feel understood.”\" — Deb Caletti" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png" --- # I like those very realistic paintings that look like… ![“I like those very realistic paintings that look like photographs, or novels that are so much like actual life that you feel understood.” quote by Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png) > ““I like those very realistic paintings that look like photographs, or novels that are so much like actual life that you feel understood.”” [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker values works that blur the line between art and reality, finding comfort in seeing life reflected so precisely that they feel understood. **In simple terms:** Realistic art feels personally validating. Key Takeaway Authenticity in art fosters connection. Themes art realism identity empathy Mood nostalgic introspective Type literary artistic When to use this quote - choosing literature - gallery visits - film selection - personal journaling Key Concepts aesthetic realism psychology of identification Practical Applications - seek works that mirror personal experience - use realistic art for therapeutic reflection Questions to Reflect On - Why does realism resonate more than abstraction for some? - Can over‑identification limit imagination? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actual life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actual-life/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) ## Related quotes > [I try to make music for people to relate to, and I like to keep it realistic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/young-m-a/i-try-to-make-music-for-people-to-relate-to-and-i-like-to-keep-it/) [Young M.A](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/young-m-a/) > [I just feel like you're being realistic if you can laugh at yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-dacus/i-just-feel-like-you-re-being-realistic-if-you-can-laugh-at-yourself/) [Lucy Dacus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-dacus/) > [I have no illusions about my position in this world as an actor or anything like that. I'm very realistic. Reality is a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-hopkins/i-have-no-illusions-about-my-position-in-this-world-as-an-actor-or/) [Anthony Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-hopkins/) > [I remember when I was in third grade, I was in a classroom, and the teacher said, 'What do you want to do when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-lavine/i-remember-when-i-was-in-third-grade-i-was-in-a-classroom-and-the/) [Zach LaVine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-lavine/) > [People will kill you over time, and how they'll kill you is with tiny, harmless phrases, like 'be realistic.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-moran/people-will-kill-you-over-time-and-how-they-ll-kill-you-is-with-tiny/) [Dylan Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-moran/) > [“People will kill you. Over time. They will shave out every last morsel of fun in you with little, harmless sounding phrases that people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-moran/people-will-kill-you-over-time-they-will-shave-out-every-last-morsel/) [Dylan Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-moran/) > [We like it to be realistic but not real, but I wear something I call the 'vag pad,' it's kind of a little triangular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmy-rossum/we-like-it-to-be-realistic-but-not-real-but-i-wear-something-i-call/) [Emmy Rossum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmy-rossum/) > [I see paintings everywhere. I look at stuff and it looks like painting to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-schnabel/i-see-paintings-everywhere-i-look-at-stuff-and-it-looks-like-painting/) [Julian Schnabel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-schnabel/) > [I really admire paintings that look like an actual snapshot - I think that's just extraordinary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-barnett/i-really-admire-paintings-that-look-like-an-actual-snapshot-i-think/) [Samuel Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-barnett/) > [I have a studio in the country - in the woods - but my paintings look more real to me than what is outdoors.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-guston/i-have-a-studio-in-the-country-in-the-woods-but-my-paintings-look/) [Philip Guston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-guston/) > [You don't talk about paintings, you look at them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-auguste-renoir/you-don-t-talk-about-paintings-you-look-at-them/) [Pierre-Auguste Renoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-auguste-renoir/) > [I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-michel-basquiat/i-want-to-make-paintings-that-look-as-if-they-were-made-by-a-child/) [Jean-Michel Basquiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-michel-basquiat/) > [I love the art history ones because it's so little work for me. There's so many paintings that when I look at them, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mallory-ortberg/i-love-the-art-history-ones-because-it-s-so-little-work-for-me-there/) [Mallory Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mallory-ortberg/) > [I like all paintings. I always look at the paintings, good or bad, in barbershops, furniture stores, provincial hotels. I'm like a drinker who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/i-like-all-paintings-i-always-look-at-the-paintings-good-or-bad-in/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [A photo is like a map, a way of giving me a foot into a kind of reality I want... I'm not trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-doig/a-photo-is-like-a-map-a-way-of-giving-me-a-foot-into-a-kind-of/) [Peter Doig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-doig/) ## More by Deb Caletti > [“More, much more, will happen after this. Things involving maps and books and true love and tragedy, tragedy like you wouldn't believe. But fine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/more-much-more-will-happen-after-this-things-involving-maps-and-books/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“Hannah and Kayla are talking without saying anything. Their conversation goes like this: Hannah: Uh-huh. Kayla: It was like, ugh! Hannah: I know. Kayla:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/hannah-and-kayla-are-talking-without-saying-anything-their/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [Another person is, at the heart of it, unknowable. And if you cannot know a person enough to always guess what they’re capable of,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/another-person-is-at-the-heart-of-it-unknowable-and-if-you-cannot/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/that-s-what-people-do-who-love-you-they-put-their-arms-around-you-and/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [If fate is a shape-shifter, then loves is too. It can be, anyway, in its most dangerous form. It´s your best day and then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/if-fate-is-a-shape-shifter-then-loves-is-too-it-can-be-anyway-in-its/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [If you don't participate, you're just taking up oxygen. (Bunny) Life is a banquet. Approach it with hunger. (Chuck)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/if-you-don-t-participate-you-re-just-taking-up-oxygen-bunny-life-is-a/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“You wanted more from people sometimes. And sometimes,you wanted more from yourself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/you-wanted-more-from-people-sometimes-and-sometimes-you-wanted-more/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [Because that’s how it works after something terrible has happened. You know this is true if something terrible has ever happened to you. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/because-that-s-how-it-works-after-something-terrible-has-happened-you/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“Good guy. There was efficiency to male language. Those two words were what guys said about other guys that they really respected. Guys they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/good-guy-there-was-efficiency-to-male-language-those-two-words-were/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“In a world of insanity, nothing is sacred. It's an insane world, nothing is sacred.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/in-a-world-of-insanity-nothing-is-sacred-it-s-an-insane-world-nothing/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“And because he was nice in the beginning did not mean he was a good man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/and-because-he-was-nice-in-the-beginning-did-not-mean-he-was-a-good/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [This is what happens when nice people are pushed too far. We give too many chances, and so when we've finally had enough, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/this-is-what-happens-when-nice-people-are-pushed-too-far-we-give-too/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“I confess I had a Child of Divorce Reunion Fantasy Number One Thousand, where I for a moment imagined my father finding out that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/i-confess-i-had-a-child-of-divorce-reunion-fantasy-number-one/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [so what brings you to the doctor today?" "hmm, im afraid i have the chronic desire to save people" "i know about that. i've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/so-what-brings-you-to-the-doctor-today-hmm-im-afraid-i-have-the/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [“Thousands of years of tradition. People don't see the humanity that lies in the animals, same as people don't see the animal that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/thousands-of-years-of-tradition-people-don-t-see-the-humanity-that/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) [Explore all 404 Deb Caletti quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) ## More Actual life quotes > [“On the other side of graduation was her actual life, the slow narrowing of possibilities that would catch her and freeze her in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ling-ma/on-the-other-side-of-graduation-was-her-actual-life-the-slow/) [Ling Ma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ling-ma/) > [“Perchance, dear reader, you will then believe that nothing is stranger and madder than actual life, and that this is all that the poet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-t-a-hoffmann-2/perchance-dear-reader-you-will-then-believe-that-nothing-is-stranger/) [E.T.A. Hoffmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-t-a-hoffmann-2/) > [The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but of the nature of learning; whereas, the experience gained from actual life is of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-smiles/the-experience-gathered-from-books-though-often-valuable-is-but-of/) [Samuel Smiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-smiles/) > [“Margaret realized the chaotic nature of our daily life, and its difference from the orderly sequence that has been fabricated by historians. Actual life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster-2/margaret-realized-the-chaotic-nature-of-our-daily-life-and-its/) [E.M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster-2/) > [All actual life is encounter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/all-actual-life-is-encounter/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [“The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning whereas the experience gained form actual life is of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-smiles/the-experience-gathered-from-books-though-often-valuable-is-but-the/) [Samuel Smiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-smiles/) > [“It is essential that a work of art should be self-consistent, that an artist should consciously or unconsciously draw a circle beyond which he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/it-is-essential-that-a-work-of-art-should-be-self-consistent-that-an/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“After a dream like that, you're grateful that it was just a dream, that no matter how bad your actual life, it couldn't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-clarke/after-a-dream-like-that-you-re-grateful-that-it-was-just-a-dream-that/) [Brock Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-clarke/) > [The virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which the wicked man does in actual life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/the-virtuous-man-contents-himself-with-dreaming-that-which-the-wicked/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [From this I conclude that the best education for the situations of actual life consists of the experience we acquire from the study of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/polybius/from-this-i-conclude-that-the-best-education-for-the-situations-of/) [Polybius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/polybius/) > [One of the fundamental reasons why so many doctors become cynical and disillusioned is precisely because, when the abstract idealism has worn thin, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/one-of-the-fundamental-reasons-why-so-many-doctors-become-cynical-and/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The only times I get uncomfortable is when people are looking into my actual life, just because, like anybody, there's tons of stuff I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-g/the-only-times-i-get-uncomfortable-is-when-people-are-looking-into-my/) [Alex G](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-g/) > [“The novelist’s happy discovery was to think of substituting for those opaque sections, impenetrable by the human spirit, their equivalent in immaterial sections, things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-novelist-s-happy-discovery-was-to-think-of-substituting-for-those/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [In actual life a downward movement may sometimes be made the beginning of an ascent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/in-actual-life-a-downward-movement-may-sometimes-be-made-the/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [“We know how to dream beautifully! And in our dreams we are always extraordinarily active! We cross oceans, found colonies, introduce ideal governments, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyubov-dostoyevskaya/we-know-how-to-dream-beautifully-and-in-our-dreams-we-are-always/) [Lyubov Dostoyevskaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyubov-dostoyevskaya/) [Browse all 104 Actual life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actual-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I like those very realistic paintings that look like photographs, or novels that are so much like actual life that you feel understood.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Deb Caletti" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-that-look-like-photographs-or/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Actual life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-that-look-like-photographs-or/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc3/deb-caletti-697_actual-life_i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-th_112681.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I like those very realistic paintings that look like photographs, or novels that are so much like actual…” — Deb Caletti", "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": "Deb Caletti", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I like those very realistic paintings...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-that-look-like-photographs-or/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/i-like-those-very-realistic-paintings-that-look-like-photographs-or/#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 } } ] } ```