--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One usually understands the art of the…" description: "\"One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding the art of the past.\" — Sol LeWitt" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg" --- # One usually understands the art of the past by applying… ![“One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding the art of the past.” quote by Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg) > “One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding the art of the past.” [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding past art through modern lenses distorts its original meaning and context. **In simple terms:** Modern views can misinterpret historic art. Key Takeaway Study art within its own historical framework. Themes art history interpretation context modernism Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - museum visits - art education - curation - critical writing Key Concepts conceptual art historical relativism Questions to Reflect On - How does your era shape your art perception? - What methods preserve original intent? A Different Perspective Contemporary bias may obscure genuine appreciation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-past-829128/) [Conventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventions/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Misunderstanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misunderstanding/) [Misunderstanding Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misunderstanding-art-4748610/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Present Misunderstanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/present-misunderstanding-4748611/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Understands Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understands-art-1678383/) ## Related quotes > [I don't think I ever really decided I was an artist. I went to college to learn how to think and look at art.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gavin-turk/i-don-t-think-i-ever-really-decided-i-was-an-artist-i-went-to-college/) [Gavin Turk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gavin-turk/) > [When a man understands the art of seeing, he can trace the spirit of an age and the features of a king even in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/when-a-man-understands-the-art-of-seeing-he-can-trace-the-spirit-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Writing, as most art, is considered to be essentially superfluous. Who is an artist before a surgeon? Or a scientist? But the fact that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-j-hanshe/writing-as-most-art-is-considered-to-be-essentially-superfluous-who/) [Rainer J. Hanshe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-j-hanshe/) > [“To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot live always in the present it must not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-me-there-is-no-past-or-future-in-art-if-a-work-of-art-cannot-live/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“And that is why I would propose that, in our teaching of the humanities, we should emphasize the enduring creations of the past. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/and-that-is-why-i-would-propose-that-in-our-teaching-of-the/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [All art of the past must be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-boulez/all-art-of-the-past-must-be-destroyed/) [Pierre Boulez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-boulez/) > [“Creative work bridges time because the energy of art is not time-bound. If it were we should have no interest in the art of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/creative-work-bridges-time-because-the-energy-of-art-is-not-time/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [Remember, how often the great art of the past didn't look great at first, how often it didn't look like art at all; how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-cunningham/remember-how-often-the-great-art-of-the-past-didn-t-look-great-at/) [Michael Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-cunningham/) > [The great art of the past became great because it started to go out of the perimeters that defined art and defined new territories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludovico-einaudi/the-great-art-of-the-past-became-great-because-it-started-to-go-out/) [Ludovico Einaudi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludovico-einaudi/) > [art is the most general condition of the Past in the present. ... Perhaps no work of art is art. It can only become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/art-is-the-most-general-condition-of-the-past-in-the-present-perhaps/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm happy that the evolution of art in the past 25 years, and the place of art in global culture-and even finance-has gotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-shafrazi/i-m-happy-that-the-evolution-of-art-in-the-past-25-years-and-the/) [Tony Shafrazi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-shafrazi/) > [Art is a way you discover the past, and so it brings the past into the present and the future. That's why we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-steir/art-is-a-way-you-discover-the-past-and-so-it-brings-the-past-into-the/) [Pat Steir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-steir/) > [The internationalization of art becomes a factor contributing to the estrangement of art from the artist. The sum of works of all times and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-rosenberg/the-internationalization-of-art-becomes-a-factor-contributing-to-the/) [Harold Rosenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-rosenberg/) > [We take from the art of the past what we need. The variable posthumous reputations of even the greatest artists and the unpredictable revivals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/we-take-from-the-art-of-the-past-what-we-need-the-variable-posthumous/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [“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/) ## More by Sol LeWitt > [New materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. Some artists confuse new materials with new ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/new-materials-are-one-of-the-great-afflictions-of-contemporary-art/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/the-artist-is-seen-like-a-producer-of-commodities-like-a-factory-that/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable. In terms of idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/most-ideas-that-are-successful-are-ludicrously-simple-successful/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [Artists teach critics what to think. Critics repeat what the artists teach them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/artists-teach-critics-what-to-think-critics-repeat-what-the-artists/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [In my case, I used the elements of these simple forms - square, cube, line and color - to produce logical systems. Most of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/in-my-case-i-used-the-elements-of-these-simple-forms-square-cube-line/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [Conceptual art became the liberating idea that gave the art of the next 40 years its real impetus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/conceptual-art-became-the-liberating-idea-that-gave-the-art-of-the/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [The narrative of serial art works more like music than like literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/the-narrative-of-serial-art-works-more-like-music-than-like-literature/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [Just as the development of earth art and installation art stemmed from the idea of taking art out of the galleries, the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/just-as-the-development-of-earth-art-and-installation-art-stemmed/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [I didn't want to save art - I respected the older artists too much to think art needed saving. But I knew it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/i-didn-t-want-to-save-art-i-respected-the-older-artists-too-much-to/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [One should be intelligent enough to know when not to be too intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/one-should-be-intelligent-enough-to-know-when-not-to-be-too/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [I wasn't really that interested in objects. I was interested in ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/i-wasn-t-really-that-interested-in-objects-i-was-interested-in-ideas/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [Your work isn't a high stakes, nail-biting professional challenge. It's a form of play. Lighten up and have fun with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/your-work-isn-t-a-high-stakes-nail-biting-professional-challenge-it-s/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [All of the significant art of today stems from Conceptual art. This includes the art of installation, political, feminist and socially directed art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/all-of-the-significant-art-of-today-stems-from-conceptual-art-this/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/a-work-of-art-may-be-understood-as-a-conductor-from-the-artist-s-mind/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [I was not interested in irony; I wanted to emphasize the primacy of the idea in making art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/i-was-not-interested-in-irony-i-wanted-to-emphasize-the-primacy-of/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) [Explore all 57 Sol LeWitt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) ## 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": "One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding the art of the past.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sol LeWitt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-past-by-applying-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-past-by-applying-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/sol-lewitt-11839_art_one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-p_2186965.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding…” — Sol LeWitt", "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": "Sol LeWitt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "One usually understands the art of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-past-by-applying-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/one-usually-understands-the-art-of-the-past-by-applying-the/#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 } } ] } ```