--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is a language, an instrument of…" description: "\"Art is a language, an instrument of knowledge, an instrument of communication.\" — Jean Dubuffet" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg" --- # Art is a language, an instrument of knowledge, an… ![“Art is a language, an instrument of knowledge, an instrument of communication.” quote by Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg) > “Art is a language, an instrument of knowledge, an instrument of communication.” [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art functions as a communicative language, conveying knowledge and ideas beyond words. **In simple terms:** Art is a language that shares knowledge. Key Takeaway Use art to express complex ideas. Themes communication knowledge expression Mood thoughtful creative Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - advertising - social activism Key Concepts semiotics visual rhetoric Questions to Reflect On - How can art bridge gaps in understanding? - What symbols convey your message best? A Different Perspective Art may be misinterpreted without shared cultural context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Art Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-language-1153529/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Instruments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instruments/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Knowledge Instrument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge-instrument-2186748/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Language Instrument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-instrument-1750627/) ## Related quotes > [Knowledge is but an instrument, which the profligate and the flagitious may use as well as the brave and the just.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-mann/knowledge-is-but-an-instrument-which-the-profligate-and-the/) [Horace Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-mann/) > [Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/language-is-only-the-instrument-of-science-and-words-are-but-the/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/knowledge-is-the-only-instrument-of-production-that-is-not-subject-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Language is the instrument in all cases and can language be trusted?If it were not for language, could we lie?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/language-is-the-instrument-in-all-cases-and-can-language-be-trusted/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [Art is a language. It's not a skill. It's not a stunt. It's not something that you just learn to do and put it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynona-mulcaster/art-is-a-language-it-s-not-a-skill-it-s-not-a-stunt-it-s-not/) [Wynona Mulcaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynona-mulcaster/) > [I feel that art is beyond language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangechi-mutu/i-feel-that-art-is-beyond-language/) [Wangechi Mutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangechi-mutu/) > [“Anyone who believes that you can make art from language is part of a small, nearly-vanishing community, and we should all form a wedge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-marcus/anyone-who-believes-that-you-can-make-art-from-language-is-part-of-a/) [Ben Marcus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-marcus/) > [Art transcends war. Art is the language of God and war is the barking of men. Beethoven is bigger than war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-hurst/art-transcends-war-art-is-the-language-of-god-and-war-is-the-barking/) [Fannie Hurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-hurst/) > [Art as language…in the future there will only be art. This common language will carry the message of love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theo-van-doesburg/art-as-language-in-the-future-there-will-only-be-art-this-common/) [Theo van Doesburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theo-van-doesburg/) > [“Language is art, language is imagery, music, rhythm, thought, responsibility and communication. With the extensive English vocabulary available to us, an abundance of words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-palestrant/language-is-art-language-is-imagery-music-rhythm-thought/) [Ellen Palestrant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-palestrant/) > [“While English is an international language, the Art language is the universal one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sabina-hassan/while-english-is-an-international-language-the-art-language-is-the/) [Sabina Hassan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sabina-hassan/) > [No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-bikel/no-heirloom-of-humankind-captures-the-past-as-do-art-and-language/) [Theodore Bikel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-bikel/) > [Good art has everything you need to know about it in the work, not on a wall label. Art is here to take us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-darby-bannard/good-art-has-everything-you-need-to-know-about-it-in-the-work-not-on/) [Walter Darby Bannard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-darby-bannard/) > [I love making up visual works of art in language. I get to be an artist without actually being an artist in that sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/i-love-making-up-visual-works-of-art-in-language-i-get-to-be-an/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [paraphrasing.."Science is the language of the intellect of society. Art is language of the entire human personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naguib-mahfouz/paraphrasing-science-is-the-language-of-the-intellect-of-society-art/) [Naguib Mahfouz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naguib-mahfouz/) ## More by Jean Dubuffet > [Painting is... a richer language than words... Painting operates through signs which are not abstract and incorporeal like words. The signs of painting are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/painting-is-a-richer-language-than-words-painting-operates-through/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [What seems interesting to me is to reproduce in the figurative representation of an object the whole complex system of impressions we receive in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/what-seems-interesting-to-me-is-to-reproduce-in-the-figurative/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [Caprice, independence and rebellion, which are opposed to the social order, are essential to the good health of an ethnic group. We shall measure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/caprice-independence-and-rebellion-which-are-opposed-to-the-social/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [Art should be born from the materials.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/art-should-be-born-from-the-materials/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [I associated it (the word 'Hourloupe', as title of his longest series of work he made exclusively from 1962 to 1974, fh) by assonance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/i-associated-it-the-word-hourloupe-as-title-of-his-longest-series-of/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [I would like people to see my work as a rehabilitation of scorned values and, in any case, make no mistake about it, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/i-would-like-people-to-see-my-work-as-a-rehabilitation-of-scorned/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [I have always been haunted by the feeling that the painter has much to gain from making use of the forces that tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/i-have-always-been-haunted-by-the-feeling-that-the-painter-has-much/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [There is no such thing as abstract art, or else all art is abstract, which amounts to the same thing. Abstract art no more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/there-is-no-such-thing-as-abstract-art-or-else-all-art-is-abstract/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [What I expect from any work of art is that it surprises me, that it violates my customary valuations of things and offers me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/what-i-expect-from-any-work-of-art-is-that-it-surprises-me-that-it/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [I have tried to draw the human effigy (and all the other subjects dealt with in my paintings) in an immediate and effective way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/i-have-tried-to-draw-the-human-effigy-and-all-the-other-subjects/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [“People have seen that I intend to sweep away everything we have been taught to consider - without question - as grace and beauty;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/people-have-seen-that-i-intend-to-sweep-away-everything-we-have-been/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [Normal means lack of imagination and creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/normal-means-lack-of-imagination-and-creativity/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [What culture lacks is the taste for anonymous, innumerable germination. Culture is smitten with counting and measuring; it feels out of place and uncomfortable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/what-culture-lacks-is-the-taste-for-anonymous-innumerable-germination/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/for-me-insanity-is-super-sanity-the-normal-is-psychotic-normal-means/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [The things we truly love, the things forming the basis and roots of our being, are generally things we never look at. A huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/the-things-we-truly-love-the-things-forming-the-basis-and-roots-of/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) [Explore all 41 Jean Dubuffet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) ## 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](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 a language, an instrument of knowledge, an instrument of communication.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Dubuffet" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowledge-an-instrument-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowledge-an-instrument-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/329/jean-dubuffet-15341_art_art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowl_1381810.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is a language, an instrument of knowledge, an instrument of communication.” — Jean Dubuffet", "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": "Jean Dubuffet", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Art is a language, an instrument...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowledge-an-instrument-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/art-is-a-language-an-instrument-of-knowledge-an-instrument-of/#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 } } ] } ```