--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If an image is powerful enough, if it…" description: "\"If an image is powerful enough, if it resists us, if, by its obscure coherence, part of it escapes our understanding, then it means that something has ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg" --- # If an image is powerful enough, if it resists us, if, by… ![“If an image is powerful enough, if it resists us, if, by its obscure coherence, part of it escapes our understanding, then it means that something has been won from reality.” quote by Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg) > “If an image is powerful enough, if it resists us, if, by its obscure coherence, part of it escapes our understanding, then it means that something has been won from reality.” [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When an image resists comprehension, it reveals a hidden victory over reality’s limits. **In simple terms:** Resisting images show we’ve transcended reality. Key Takeaway Seek images that challenge understanding. Themes art perception reality mystery Mood provocative thought‑provoking Type artistic analytical When to use this quote - Museum visits - gallery curation - visual storytelling - critical analysis Key Concepts Aesthetics visual theory philosophy of art Questions to Reflect On - What makes an image resist your understanding? - How do you respond when art feels unknowable? A Different Perspective Such images may alienate viewers, limiting impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Coherence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coherence/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) ## Related quotes > [Your self image is so powerful it unwittingly becomes your destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-micheaux/your-self-image-is-so-powerful-it-unwittingly-becomes-your-destiny/) [Oscar Micheaux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-micheaux/) > [Why I'm interested in filmmaking is because a moving image is very, very powerful when it comes to changing human behavior.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruben-ostlund/why-i-m-interested-in-filmmaking-is-because-a-moving-image-is-very/) [Ruben Ostlund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruben-ostlund/) > [“Image can be so powerful that it can create its own reality. That’s exactly what show business does better than anything else.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/image-can-be-so-powerful-that-it-can-create-its-own-reality-that-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Image is powerful. But image is also superficial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cameron-russell/image-is-powerful-but-image-is-also-superficial/) [Cameron Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cameron-russell/) > [“The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be so much more powerful than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/the-politician-will-be-only-too-happy-to-abdicate-in-favor-of-his/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [You have to record as many details as possible and achieve an order, without taking away the complexity of the real. To voice the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/you-have-to-record-as-many-details-as-possible-and-achieve-an-order/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [Art and ideology often interact on each other; but the plain fact is that both spring from a common source. Both draw on human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-tynan/art-and-ideology-often-interact-on-each-other-but-the-plain-fact-is/) [Kenneth Tynan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-tynan/) > [No one can threaten poetry. It's always been there, always will be. Humans need it to live: it has sustaining powers. How could we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-orr/no-one-can-threaten-poetry-it-s-always-been-there-always-will-be/) [Gregory Orr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-orr/) > [In our view any awareness is an increment to consciousness, an added light, a reinforcement of psychic coherence. Its swiftness or instantaneity can hide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-our-view-any-awareness-is-an-increment-to-consciousness-an-added/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [“To live, it seems, is to explain, to justify, and to find coherence among diverse outcomes, characteristics, and causes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-gilovich/to-live-it-seems-is-to-explain-to-justify-and-to-find-coherence-among/) [Thomas Gilovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-gilovich/) > [We have power... Our power isn’t in a political system, or a religious system, or in an economic system, or in a military system;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-trudell/we-have-power-our-power-isn-t-in-a-political-system-or-a-religious/) [John Trudell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-trudell/) > [By exposing the multiplicity, the facticity, the repetition and stereotype at the heart of every aesthetic gesture, photography deconstructs the possibility of differentiating between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosalind-e-krauss/by-exposing-the-multiplicity-the-facticity-the-repetition-and/) [Rosalind E. Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosalind-e-krauss/) > [Freedom! To fill people's mailboxes, eyes, ears and brains with commercial rubbish against their will, television programs that are impossible to watch with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/freedom-to-fill-people-s-mailboxes-eyes-ears-and-brains-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-superpowers-often-behave-like-two-heavily-armed-blind-men-feeling/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I have a strong spiritual commitment, and I try to express that in my work. Salvation cannot be worked out in human terms. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-grossman/i-have-a-strong-spiritual-commitment-and-i-try-to-express-that-in-my/) [Richard Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-grossman/) ## More by Luc Delahaye > [I want to show the event at the very moment it takes place… My body must be anchored to the ground and seek the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/i-want-to-show-the-event-at-the-very-moment-it-takes-place-my-body/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [You have to record as many details as possible and achieve an order, without taking away the complexity of the real. To voice the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/you-have-to-record-as-many-details-as-possible-and-achieve-an-order/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [I was twenty when I discovered war and photography. I can't say that I wanted to bear witness and change the world. I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/i-was-twenty-when-i-discovered-war-and-photography-i-can-t-say-that-i/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [The denunciation of suffering by photography has replaced the religious justification of suffering in painting. Denunciation is a function of photojournalism, and in itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/the-denunciation-of-suffering-by-photography-has-replaced-the/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [There is the refusal of style and the refusal of sentimentalism, there is this desire for clarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/there-is-the-refusal-of-style-and-the-refusal-of-sentimentalism-there/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [Photojournalism is neither photography or journalism. It has its function but it's not where I see myself: the press is for me just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/photojournalism-is-neither-photography-or-journalism-it-has-its/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [Being an artist is nothing, or at least, not enough; what you want is to be a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/being-an-artist-is-nothing-or-at-least-not-enough-what-you-want-is-to/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [There is something beautiful about photography; it allows the self to be reunited with the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/there-is-something-beautiful-about-photography-it-allows-the-self-to/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) [Explore all 9 Luc Delahaye quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) ## More Coherence quotes > [I have a strong spiritual commitment, and I try to express that in my work. Salvation cannot be worked out in human terms. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-grossman/i-have-a-strong-spiritual-commitment-and-i-try-to-express-that-in-my/) [Richard Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-grossman/) > [The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-superpowers-often-behave-like-two-heavily-armed-blind-men-feeling/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Freedom! To fill people's mailboxes, eyes, ears and brains with commercial rubbish against their will, television programs that are impossible to watch with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/freedom-to-fill-people-s-mailboxes-eyes-ears-and-brains-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [By exposing the multiplicity, the facticity, the repetition and stereotype at the heart of every aesthetic gesture, photography deconstructs the possibility of differentiating between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosalind-e-krauss/by-exposing-the-multiplicity-the-facticity-the-repetition-and/) [Rosalind E. Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosalind-e-krauss/) > [We have power... Our power isn’t in a political system, or a religious system, or in an economic system, or in a military system;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-trudell/we-have-power-our-power-isn-t-in-a-political-system-or-a-religious/) [John Trudell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-trudell/) > [“To live, it seems, is to explain, to justify, and to find coherence among diverse outcomes, characteristics, and causes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-gilovich/to-live-it-seems-is-to-explain-to-justify-and-to-find-coherence-among/) [Thomas Gilovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-gilovich/) > [In our view any awareness is an increment to consciousness, an added light, a reinforcement of psychic coherence. Its swiftness or instantaneity can hide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-our-view-any-awareness-is-an-increment-to-consciousness-an-added/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [No one can threaten poetry. It's always been there, always will be. Humans need it to live: it has sustaining powers. How could we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-orr/no-one-can-threaten-poetry-it-s-always-been-there-always-will-be/) [Gregory Orr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-orr/) > [Art and ideology often interact on each other; but the plain fact is that both spring from a common source. Both draw on human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-tynan/art-and-ideology-often-interact-on-each-other-but-the-plain-fact-is/) [Kenneth Tynan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-tynan/) > [Whether it is good or evil, whether life in itself is pain or pleasure, whether it is uncertain-that it may perhaps be this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/whether-it-is-good-or-evil-whether-life-in-itself-is-pain-or-pleasure/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“Coherence suggests that there is harmony, unity, and integrity between your vision and mission, your roles and goals, your priorities and plans, and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-covey/coherence-suggests-that-there-is-harmony-unity-and-integrity-between/) [Stephen R. Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-covey/) > [Recent studies of mindfulness practices reveal that they can result in profound improvements in a range of physiological, mental, and interpersonal domains in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-j-siegel/recent-studies-of-mindfulness-practices-reveal-that-they-can-result/) [Daniel J. Siegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-j-siegel/) > [“I miss talking to him. Every time I come across something I think he'd like, I just wish I could call him up or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lang-leav/i-miss-talking-to-him-every-time-i-come-across-something-i-think-he-d/) [Lang Leav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lang-leav/) > [The genuine coherence of our ideas does not come from the reasoning that ties them together, but from the spiritual impulse that gives rise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/the-genuine-coherence-of-our-ideas-does-not-come-from-the-reasoning/) [Nicolas Gomez Davila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [“Perfect valour is to do without witnesses what one would do before all the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/perfect-valour-is-to-do-without-witnesses-what-one-would-do-before/) [François de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) [Browse all 140 Coherence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coherence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If an image is powerful enough, if it resists us, if, by its obscure coherence, part of it escapes our understanding, then it means that something has been won from reality.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Luc Delahaye" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-resists-us-if-by-its-obscure/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Coherence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-resists-us-if-by-its-obscure/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/luc-delahaye-44462_coherence_if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-res_1301387.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If an image is powerful enough, if it resists us, if, by its obscure coherence, part of it escapes our…” — Luc Delahaye", "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": "Luc Delahaye", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If an image is powerful enough,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-resists-us-if-by-its-obscure/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/if-an-image-is-powerful-enough-if-it-resists-us-if-by-its-obscure/#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 } } ] } ```