--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The impulse to paint comes neither from…" description: "\"The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png" --- # The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor… ![“The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter and model: even if the model is a mountain or a shelf of empty medicine bottles.” quote by John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png) > “The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter and model: even if the model is a mountain or a shelf of empty medicine bottles.” [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Painting is driven by a direct, often unexpected interaction with the subject, not by detached observation or introspection. **In simple terms:** Art arises from encounter, not observation. Key Takeaway Encounter fuels creative impulse. Themes Creativity Perception Interaction Subjectivity Artistic Process Mood Curiosity Wonder Contemplation Type Observation Philosophical Reflective When to use this quote - When an artist confronts a landscape - When a painter faces everyday objects - When a sculptor meets a human figure - When a photographer captures a fleeting moment - When a writer describes a scene Key Concepts Encounter Observation Soul Blindness Model Practical Applications - Developing immersive installations - Designing experiential exhibitions Questions to Reflect On - How does direct engagement change the artist's vision? - What does 'blind soul' suggest about internal perception? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Blind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blind/) [Encounter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/encounter/) [Encounters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/encounters/) [Medicine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medicine/) [Observation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observation/) [Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painter/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) ## Related quotes > [Some paint comes across directly onto the nervous system and other paint tells you the story in a long diatribe through the brain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/some-paint-comes-across-directly-onto-the-nervous-system-and-other/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [ Faith is above all a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, and to experience \[His\] closeness, \[His\] friendship, \[His\] Love; only in this way does… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/faith-is-above-all-a-personal-intimate-encounter-with-jesus-and-to/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [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/) > [“Let us find inner freedom in each lucky moment that we encounter, like a sun-basking butterfly that finds peace on a cherry blossom petal.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/let-us-find-inner-freedom-in-each-lucky-moment-that-we-encounter-like/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [Anytime you have a difficult encounter with your child, there is a good chance that at least one of these factors is bringing out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-rindner-tempelsman/anytime-you-have-a-difficult-encounter-with-your-child-there-is-a/) [Cathy Rindner Tempelsman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-rindner-tempelsman/) > [Generally speaking, moving water is the most dangerous thing you can encounter underground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-stone/generally-speaking-moving-water-is-the-most-dangerous-thing-you-can/) [William Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-stone/) > [“Is this the truth of our historic encounter?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/is-this-the-truth-of-our-historic-encounter/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [To every soul you encounter, be a mirror, which reflects only their beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-every-soul-you-encounter-be-a-mirror-which-reflects-only-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A full-blooded encounter for a number of reasons, many of them illegitimate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-champion/a-full-blooded-encounter-for-a-number-of-reasons-many-of-them/) [Jon Champion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-champion/) > [“With every new encounter with God your vision becomes clearer and sharper”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/with-every-new-encounter-with-god-your-vision-becomes-clearer-and/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [An encounter with god or with the transcendent, per se, can only occur when we experience the violent side of god.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/an-encounter-with-god-or-with-the-transcendent-per-se-can-only-occur/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I've just grown up a lot and started to encounter some of the big decisions of life in terms of what career I wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-norris/i-ve-just-grown-up-a-lot-and-started-to-encounter-some-of-the-big/) [Lee Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-norris/) > [“An “event” is something that happens that does not quite fit into our established system of knowledge, and so it will appear to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-t-conard/an-event-is-something-that-happens-that-does-not-quite-fit-into-our/) Mark T. Conard > [A crisis is a close encounter of the third kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-finley/a-crisis-is-a-close-encounter-of-the-third-kind/) [Guy Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-finley/) > [The essence of Christianity...is an ever-new encounter with... the God who speaks to us, who approaches us and who befriends us!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/the-essence-of-christianity-is-an-ever-new-encounter-with-the-god-who/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) ## More by John Berger > [When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/when-we-read-a-story-we-inhabit-it-the-covers-of-the-book-are-like-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Oil painting did to appearances what capital did to social relations. It reduced everything to the equality of objects. Everything became exchangeable because everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/oil-painting-did-to-appearances-what-capital-did-to-social-relations/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Landscapes can be deceptive. Sometimes a landscape seems to be less a setting for the life of its inhabitants than a curtain behind which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/landscapes-can-be-deceptive-sometimes-a-landscape-seems-to-be-less-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We live in a dominant culture of ceaseless Departure and Progress that has so far lasted two or three centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-live-in-a-dominant-culture-of-ceaseless-departure-and-progress/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [My heart born naked was swaddled in lullabies. Later alone it wore poems for clothes. Like a shirt I carried on my back the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/my-heart-born-naked-was-swaddled-in-lullabies-later-alone-it-wore/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [ There's the artist's intimacy and truthfulness to himself, but an equal intimacy to the Other \[the one drawn\]. Picasso drawings are like that... the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/there-s-the-artist-s-intimacy-and-truthfulness-to-himself-but-an/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Traditional Chinese art looked at the Earth from a Confucian mountain top; Japanese art looked closely around screens; Italian Renaissance art surveyed conquered nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/traditional-chinese-art-looked-at-the-earth-from-a-confucian-mountain/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Never again shall a single story be told as though it were the only one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/never-again-shall-a-single-story-be-told-as-though-it-were-the-only/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [In drawing after drawing, pastel after pastel, painting after painting, the contours of Degas's dancing figures become, at a certain point, darkly insistent, tangled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/in-drawing-after-drawing-pastel-after-pastel-painting-after-painting/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-never-look-at-just-one-thing-we-are-always-looking-at-the-relation/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We can become anything. That is why injustice is impossible here. There may be the accident of birth, there is no accident of death.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-can-become-anything-that-is-why-injustice-is-impossible-here-there/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their own interests as narrowly as possible. This was once achieved by extensive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/capitalism-survives-by-forcing-the-majority-whom-it-exploits-to/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The camera relieves us of the burden of memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-camera-relieves-us-of-the-burden-of-memory/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [“Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/today-we-see-the-art-of-the-past-as-nobody-saw-it-before-we-actually/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-poverty-of-our-century-is-unlike-that-of-any-other-it-is-not-as/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) [Explore all 214 John Berger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) ## More Artist quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“People in coats and ties were milling around the Talley gallery, and on the wall were the minimally rendered still lifes by Giorgio Morandi,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-martin/people-in-coats-and-ties-were-milling-around-the-talley-gallery-and/) [Steve Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-martin/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [“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 > [From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-lucia/from-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-was-always-fond-of-drawing/) [St. Lucia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-lucia/) > [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 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/) > [Designers shouldn’t design for museums any more than mummies should die for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-caplan/designers-shouldn-t-design-for-museums-any-more-than-mummies-should/) [Ralph Caplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-caplan/) > [I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-arkin/i-don-t-believe-in-competitions-between-artists-this-is-insane-who/) [Alan Arkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-arkin/) > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [I am a horrible visual artist. I can't fix a car, sew, knit, cook, etc. Statistically, there is more I don't do than do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-brownstein/i-am-a-horrible-visual-artist-i-can-t-fix-a-car-sew-knit-cook-etc/) [Carrie Brownstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-brownstein/) [Browse all 32,600 Artist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter and model: even if the model is a mountain or a shelf of empty medicine bottles.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Berger" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Artist" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/john-berger-1590_artist_the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from_33786.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an…” — John Berger", "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": "John Berger", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The impulse to paint comes neither...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/#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 } } ] } ```