--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The academic teaching on beauty is false…" description: "\"The academic teaching on beauty is false. We have been misled, but so completely misled that we can no longer find so much as a shadow of a truth again..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/pablo-picasso-552_academic_the-academic-teaching-on-beauty-is-false_2335198.jpg" --- # The academic teaching on beauty is false. We have been… ![“The academic teaching on beauty is false. We have been misled, but so completely misled that we can no longer find so much as a shadow of a truth again. The beauties of the Parthenon, the Venuses, the Nymphs, the Narcisusses, are so may lies. Art is not the application of a canon of beauty, but…” quote by Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/pablo-picasso-552_academic_the-academic-teaching-on-beauty-is-false_2335198.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/pablo-picasso-552_academic_the-academic-teaching-on-beauty-is-false_2335198.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/pablo-picasso-552_academic_the-academic-teaching-on-beauty-is-false_2335198.jpg) > “The academic teaching on beauty is false. We have been misled, but so completely misled that we can no longer find so much as a shadow of a truth again. The beauties of the Parthenon, the Venuses, the Nymphs, the Narcisusses, are so may lies. Art is not the application of a canon of beauty, but what the instinct and the brain can conceive independently of that canon.” [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A critique of traditional beauty standards, asserting that true art emerges from innate perception rather than imposed canons. **In simple terms:** Beauty standards are false; art comes from instinct. Key Takeaway Trust your inner vision. Themes art beauty individualism Mood critical inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - creative practice - education - museum curation - personal expression - media criticism Key Concepts aesthetics philosophy of art Questions to Reflect On - How can you create art beyond conventional norms? - What does “beauty” mean to you? A Different Perspective Institutions may resist redefining standards. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Academic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academic/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Canon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/canon/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Nymphs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nymphs/) [Parthenon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parthenon/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [Venus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/venus/) ## Related quotes > [“I will forever walk alone in a world overflowing with those that will never understand my meaning of “Learning to See” I’m always teaching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-jones/i-will-forever-walk-alone-in-a-world-overflowing-with-those-that-will/) [Michael Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-jones/) > [“She taught me not to block out ugliness by giving imagined beauty false dominion: but that on the other hand, in the midst of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-mccafferty/she-taught-me-not-to-block-out-ugliness-by-giving-imagined-beauty/) [Kate McCafferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-mccafferty/) > [I don't look in the mirror; don't like what I see; never have. I am not my idea of a beauty. Never was. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-bacall/i-don-t-look-in-the-mirror-don-t-like-what-i-see-never-have-i-am-not/) [Lauren Bacall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-bacall/) > [The Parthenon is really only a farmyard over which someone put a roof; colonades and sculptures were added because there were people in Athens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-parthenon-is-really-only-a-farmyard-over-which-someone-put-a-roof/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [I see lies everywhere - switch on the television, it's lies. Everything is lies. In the art world or science community, we are intellectuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paola-pivi/i-see-lies-everywhere-switch-on-the-television-it-s-lies-everything/) [Paola Pivi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paola-pivi/) > [“In Caverna lies were an art and everybody was an artist, even young children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-hardinge/in-caverna-lies-were-an-art-and-everybody-was-an-artist-even-young/) [Frances Hardinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-hardinge/) > [It seems like the big difference between good art and so-so art lies somewhere in the art's heart's purpose, the agenda of the consciousness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster/it-seems-like-the-big-difference-between-good-art-and-so-so-art-lies/) [David Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster/) > [Of all lies, art is the least untrue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/of-all-lies-art-is-the-least-untrue/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [Earth proudly wears the Parthenon As the best gem upon her zone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/earth-proudly-wears-the-parthenon-as-the-best-gem-upon-her-zone/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The walls that fence our fields, as well as modern Rome, and not less the Parthenon itself, are all built of ruins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-walls-that-fence-our-fields-as-well-as-modern-rome-and-not-less/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The elms of New England! They are as much a part of her beauty as the columns of the Parthenon were the glory of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/the-elms-of-new-england-they-are-as-much-a-part-of-her-beauty-as-the/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [“Modern architects and engineers are still trying to understand how the ancient Greeks were able to build the Parthenon in ten years when the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-dunn/modern-architects-and-engineers-are-still-trying-to-understand-how/) Christopher Dunn > [In the later nineteenth century, the tops of skyscrapers often took the shape of domes, surmounted by jaunty gilded lanterns; later came ziggurats, mausoleums,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-gill/in-the-later-nineteenth-century-the-tops-of-skyscrapers-often-took/) [Brendan Gill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendan-gill/) > [Digital media are biased toward replication and storage. Our digital photos practically upload and post themselves on Facebook, and our most deleted e-mails tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-rushkoff/digital-media-are-biased-toward-replication-and-storage-our-digital/) [Douglas Rushkoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-rushkoff/) > [“Imagine you are a member of a tour visiting Greece. The group goes to the Parthenon. It is a bore. Few people even bother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/imagine-you-are-a-member-of-a-tour-visiting-greece-the-group-goes-to/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) ## More by Pablo Picasso > [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/) > [When I haven't any blue I use red.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/when-i-haven-t-any-blue-i-use-red/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [The Parthenon is really only a farmyard over which someone put a roof; colonades and sculptures were added because there were people in Athens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-parthenon-is-really-only-a-farmyard-over-which-someone-put-a-roof/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [By amusing myself with all these games, all this nonsense, all these picture puzzles, I became famous... I am only a public entertainer who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/by-amusing-myself-with-all-these-games-all-this-nonsense-all-these/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [If I paint a hammer and sickle people may think it is a representation of Communism, but for me it is only a hammer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/if-i-paint-a-hammer-and-sickle-people-may-think-it-is-a/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [One never knows what one is going to do. One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite different.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/one-never-knows-what-one-is-going-to-do-one-starts-a-painting-and/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Now there is fame! Of all - hunger, misery, the incomprehension by the public - fame is by far the worst. It is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/now-there-is-fame-of-all-hunger-misery-the-incomprehension-by-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [It takes a long time to become young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/it-takes-a-long-time-to-become-young/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth at least the truth that is given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/we-all-know-that-art-is-not-truth-art-is-a-lie-that-makes-us-realize/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [You see these thick curtains shut out the daylight: artificial light suits me a great deal better; it's absolutely steady, and much more exciting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/you-see-these-thick-curtains-shut-out-the-daylight-artificial-light/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [The best calculation is the absence of calculation. Once you have attained a certain level of recognition, others generally figure that when you do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-best-calculation-is-the-absence-of-calculation-once-you-have/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Action is the foundational key to all success. --Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/action-is-the-foundational-key-to-all-success-pablo-picasso/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [The earth doesn't have a housekeeper to do the dusting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-earth-doesn-t-have-a-housekeeper-to-do-the-dusting/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/god-is-really-only-another-artist-he-invented-the-giraffe-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/a-baby-will-make-love-stronger-days-shorter-nights-longer-bankroll/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Explore all 477 Pablo Picasso quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) ## More Academic quotes > [When I went to college, as much as my parents emphasized academic achievement, they emphasized marriage even more. 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Good sleep they sought for themselves, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/now-know-i-well-what-people-sought-formerly-above-all-else-when-they/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Because my graduate academic training at law school was not one that included most of the intellectual traditions I find useful for understanding the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/because-my-graduate-academic-training-at-law-school-was-not-one-that/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [An academic discipline, or any other semiotic domain, for that matter, is not primarily content, in the sense of facts and principles. 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I am a novelist who happens to be quite good academically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/i-am-not-an-academic-who-happens-to-have-written-a-novel-i-am-a/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) [Browse all 958 Academic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The academic teaching on beauty is false. We have been misled, but so completely misled that we can no longer find so much as a shadow of a truth again. The beauties of the Parthenon, the Venuses, the Nymphs, the Narcisusses, are so may lies. 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