--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is meant to strike us with Reality…" description: "\"Art is meant to strike us with Reality, not allow us to hide from it.\" — Elmer Rice" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png" --- # Art is meant to strike us with Reality, not allow us to… ![“Art is meant to strike us with Reality, not allow us to hide from it.” quote by Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png) > “Art is meant to strike us with Reality, not allow us to hide from it.” [Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art should confront reality directly, not provide an escape from it. **In simple terms:** Art must face truth, not hide. Key Takeaway Create art that reveals reality. Themes artistic truth reality social critique Mood provocative reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - theatre productions - visual art installations - public murals Key Concepts existentialism critical theory Questions to Reflect On - What truths does your art reveal? - Can art be both truthful and comforting? A Different Perspective Audiences may resist uncomfortable truths. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Art Meant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-meant-1289368/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Hide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hide/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality Allow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-allow-1432924/) [Strike Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strike-reality-5502262/) [Strikes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strikes/) ## Related quotes > [“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. 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That's why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/there-s-no-reality-except-the-one-contained-within-us-that-s-why-so/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/there-is-no-reality-except-the-one-contained-within-us-that-is-why-so-2/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“What's an illusion only becomes a reality once we allow those things to play on our intelligence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shenica-coleman/what-s-an-illusion-only-becomes-a-reality-once-we-allow-those-things/) [Shenica Coleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shenica-coleman/) > [“If you can dream a thing, then it has a kind of reality in your thoughts. 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That is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/the-things-we-see-are-the-same-things-that-are-within-us-there-is-no/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Works of art are meant to be lived with and loved, and if we try to understand them, we should try to understand them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/works-of-art-are-meant-to-be-lived-with-and-loved-and-if-we-try-to/) [William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/) > [An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them. We live in an age when men treat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/an-artist-should-create-beautiful-things-but-should-put-nothing-of/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Poets are not so scrupulous as you are. They know how useful passion is for publication. Nowadays a broken heart will run to many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/poets-are-not-so-scrupulous-as-you-are-they-know-how-useful-passion/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Art is meant to bring people together. It's meant to raise consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-victor-dixon/art-is-meant-to-bring-people-together-it-s-meant-to-raise/) [Brandon Victor Dixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-victor-dixon/) ## More by Elmer Rice > [Men and women of high professional standing have been reduced to the status of vagrants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/men-and-women-of-high-professional-standing-have-been-reduced-to-the/) [Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) > [Men and women of high professional standing were reduced to the status of vagrants, unable to find employment and forced to eat the bitter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/men-and-women-of-high-professional-standing-were-reduced-to-the/) [Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) > [You can have too much champagne to drink but you can never have enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/you-can-have-too-much-champagne-to-drink-but-you-can-never-have-enough/) [Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) > [When he asked me, with obvious self-satisfaction, what I thought of the scenario, I hardly knew how to answer. I asked if he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/when-he-asked-me-with-obvious-self-satisfaction-what-i-thought-of-the/) [Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) > [If nature had intended our skeletons to be visible it would have put them on the outside of our bodies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/if-nature-had-intended-our-skeletons-to-be-visible-it-would-have-put/) [Elmer Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) [Explore all 6 Elmer Rice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/) ## 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. 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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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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": "Art is meant to strike us with Reality, not allow us to hide from it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elmer Rice" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-not-allow-us-to-hide-from-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-not-allow-us-to-hide-from-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/348/elmer-rice-55166_art_art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-n_692968.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is meant to strike us with Reality, not allow us to hide from it.” — Elmer Rice", "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": "Elmer Rice", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmer-rice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Art is meant to strike us...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-not-allow-us-to-hide-from-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmer-rice/art-is-meant-to-strike-us-with-reality-not-allow-us-to-hide-from-it/#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 } } ] } ```