--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is really one of the most serious…" description: "\"“It is really one of the most serious faults which can be found with the whole conception of democracy, that its cultural function must move on the bas..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/mark-rothko-11292_art_it-is-really-one-of-the-most-serious-fau_1668630.jpg" --- # It is really one of the most serious faults which can be… ![“It is really one of the most serious faults which can be found with the whole conception of democracy, that its cultural function must move on the basis of the common denominator. Such a point of view indeed would make a mess of all of the values which we have developed for examining works of art…” quote by Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/mark-rothko-11292_art_it-is-really-one-of-the-most-serious-fau_1668630.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/mark-rothko-11292_art_it-is-really-one-of-the-most-serious-fau_1668630.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/mark-rothko-11292_art_it-is-really-one-of-the-most-serious-fau_1668630.jpg) > ““It is really one of the most serious faults which can be found with the whole conception of democracy, that its cultural function must move on the basis of the common denominator. Such a point of view indeed would make a mess of all of the values which we have developed for examining works of art. It would address one end of education in that it would consider that culture which was available to everyone, but in that achievement it would eliminate culture itself. This is surely the death of all thought. This quote is taken from "The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art" by Mark Rothko, written 1940-1 and published posthumously in 2004 by Yale University Press, pp.126-7.”” [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Democracy’s focus on universal culture can erase true cultural depth, killing thoughtful critique. **In simple terms:** Universal culture risks losing depth. Key Takeaway Preserve cultural depth in education. Themes culture democracy education Mood critical serious Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - art education - policy making - museum curation Key Concepts aesthetic theory critical analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance universal access with depth? - What role should elite culture play? A Different Perspective May overlook the need for shared cultural foundations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Common denominator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/common-denominator/) [Conception Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conception-democracy-835551/) [Consider Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consider-culture-343558/) [Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy/) [Democracy Cultural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy-cultural-835548/) [End Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-education-835549/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mark-rothko-225080/) [Philosophies Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophies-art-835550/) [Point of view](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/point-of-view/) [Yale university](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yale-university/) ## Related quotes > [We are thus brought to a conception of Democracy not merely as a sentiment which desires the well-being of all men, nor yet as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-addams/we-are-thus-brought-to-a-conception-of-democracy-not-merely-as-a/) [Jane Addams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-addams/) > [Power, after all, is not just military strength. It is the social power that comes from democracy, the cultural power that comes from freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/power-after-all-is-not-just-military-strength-it-is-the-social-power/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [If you consider yourself a part of the culture, then finances can't allow you to be bigger than the actual art form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-jackson/if-you-consider-yourself-a-part-of-the-culture-then-finances-can-t/) [Curtis Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-jackson/) > [We have to consider culture respectfully, but on the other hand, it's dangerous. When we begin talking about cultures, we begin forgetting about individuals.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burhan-sonmez/we-have-to-consider-culture-respectfully-but-on-the-other-hand-it-s/) [Burhan Sonmez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/burhan-sonmez/) > [Indeed, artists, particularly modern artists, have intentionally limited the scope and vocabulary of their expression to convey, as Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt do,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kandel/indeed-artists-particularly-modern-artists-have-intentionally-limited/) [Eric Kandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kandel/) > [“Aside from being famous, what do Beethoven, Mark Rothko, Hemingway, Francis Ford Coppola, Van Gogh, Alvin Ailey, Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath, Balzac, Jackson Pollock,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-a-shapiro/aside-from-being-famous-what-do-beethoven-mark-rothko-hemingway/) [B.A. Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-a-shapiro/) > [I have always dreamed of bringing an exhibit of Mark Rothko to Moscow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dasha-zhukova/i-have-always-dreamed-of-bringing-an-exhibit-of-mark-rothko-to-moscow/) [Dasha Zhukova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dasha-zhukova/) > [There was a review by Fairfield Porter from the 1950s about Mark Rothko, one of the more hallowed names in American art. Porter says…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/there-was-a-review-by-fairfield-porter-from-the-1950s-about-mark/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [“the Inka style was severe, abstract, stripped down to geometric forms—startlingly contemporary, in fact. (According to the Peruvian critic César Paternosto, such major twentieth-century…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-c-mann/the-inka-style-was-severe-abstract-stripped-down-to-geometric-forms/) [Charles C. Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-c-mann/) > [“cautiously. “Mark Rothko? Is that when he got Alizée’s paintings from Eleanor Roosevelt?” “He gets the painting from the other one.” I sat up,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-a-shapiro/cautiously-mark-rothko-is-that-when-he-got-aliz-e-s-paintings-from/) [B.A. Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-a-shapiro/) > [I don't understand why a Mark Rothko painting - as much as I love Mark Rothko - has to cost $73 million. I mean,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-taaffe/i-don-t-understand-why-a-mark-rothko-painting-as-much-as-i-love-mark/) [Philip Taaffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-taaffe/) > [To understand life is to understand ourselves, and that is both the beginning and the end of education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/to-understand-life-is-to-understand-ourselves-and-that-is-both-the/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [The end of knowledge is wisdom The end of culture is perfection The end of wisdom is freedom The end of education is character.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sai-baba/the-end-of-knowledge-is-wisdom-the-end-of-culture-is-perfection-the/) [Sai Baba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sai-baba/) > [The end of education is to see men made whole, both in competence and in conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dickey/the-end-of-education-is-to-see-men-made-whole-both-in-competence-and/) [John Dickey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dickey/) > [For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/for-the-sole-true-end-of-education-is-simply-this-to-teach-men-how-to/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) ## More by Mark Rothko > [Art to me is an anecdote of the spirit,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/art-to-me-is-an-anecdote-of-the-spirit/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [Without monsters and gods, art cannot enact a drama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/without-monsters-and-gods-art-cannot-enact-a-drama/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [Many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/many-of-those-who-are-driven-to-this-life-are-desperately-searching/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [It is really a matter of ending this silence and solitude, of breathing and stretching one's arms again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/it-is-really-a-matter-of-ending-this-silence-and-solitude-of/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [This would be a distortion of their meaning, since the pictures are intimate and intense, and are the opposite of what is decorative; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/this-would-be-a-distortion-of-their-meaning-since-the-pictures-are/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [The picture must be... a revelation, an unexpected and unprecedented resolution of an eternally familiar need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/the-picture-must-be-a-revelation-an-unexpected-and-unprecedented/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [To me art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/to-me-art-is-an-adventure-into-an-unknown-world-which-can-be-explored/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/it-is-a-widely-accepted-notion-among-painters-that-it-does-not-matter/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: One day, the black will swallow the red.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/there-is-only-one-thing-i-fear-in-life-my-friend-one-day-the-black/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [I do not believe that there was ever a question of being abstract or representational. It is really a matter of ending this silence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/i-do-not-believe-that-there-was-ever-a-question-of-being-abstract-or/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can only be explored by those willing to take the risks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/art-is-an-adventure-into-an-unknown-world-which-can-only-be-explored/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [If our titles recall the known myths of antiquity, we have used them again because they are the eternal symbols upon which we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/if-our-titles-recall-the-known-myths-of-antiquity-we-have-used-them/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [It is the poet and philosopher who provide the community of objectives in which the artist participates. Their chief preoccupation, like the artist, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/it-is-the-poet-and-philosopher-who-provide-the-community-of/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [The myth holds us, therefore, not through its romantic flavor, not the remembrance of beauty of some bygone age, not through the possibilities of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/the-myth-holds-us-therefore-not-through-its-romantic-flavor-not-the/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [If you are moved only by the color relationships, then you miss the point.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/if-you-are-moved-only-by-the-color-relationships-then-you-miss-the/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) [Explore all 60 Mark Rothko quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) ## 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": "“It is really one of the most serious faults which can be found with the whole conception of democracy, that its cultural function must move on the basis of the common denominator. 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