--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is not only about something; it is…" description: "\"Art is not only about something; it is something. A work of art is a thing in the world, not just a text or commentary on the world.\" — Susan Sontag" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/susan-sontag-332_art_art-is-not-only-about-something-it-is-so_3213573.jpg" --- # Art is not only about something; it is something. A work… ![“Art is not only about something; it is something. A work of art is a thing in the world, not just a text or commentary on the world.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/susan-sontag-332_art_art-is-not-only-about-something-it-is-so_3213573.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/susan-sontag-332_art_art-is-not-only-about-something-it-is-so_3213573.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/susan-sontag-332_art_art-is-not-only-about-something-it-is-so_3213573.jpg) > “Art is not only about something; it is something. A work of art is a thing in the world, not just a text or commentary on the world.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art exists as an object in the world, not merely a commentary; its presence matters. **In simple terms:** Art is a thing, not just a description. Key Takeaway Appreciate art as an entity, not just its meaning. Themes a ontology perception Mood reflective intellectual Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - museum visits - art criticism - creative practice - education Key Concepts aesthetics philosophy semiotics Questions to Reflect On - How does viewing art as object change its impact? - What balance between object and meaning is ideal? A Different Perspective May underplay the role of interpretation in understanding art. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Art Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-thing-303406/) [Art work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-work/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Commentary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commentary/) [Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thing/) [Thing World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thing-world/) [Work Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work-art/) [Works of art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/works-of-art/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Our task is not to find the maximum amount of content in a work of art, mush less to squeeze more content out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/our-task-is-not-to-find-the-maximum-amount-of-content-in-a-work-of/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Society takes what it wants. The artist himself does not count, because there is no actual existence for the work of art. The work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/society-takes-what-it-wants-the-artist-himself-does-not-count-because/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences... That solves a lot of problems ... Art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/stop-thinking-about-art-works-as-objects-and-start-thinking-about/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Your life is a work of art that you will work on the rest of your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-blanco/your-life-is-a-work-of-art-that-you-will-work-on-the-rest-of-your-life/) [Richard Blanco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-blanco/) > [I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/i-believe-that-each-work-of-art-whether-it-is-a-work-of-great-genius/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [One must have a high opinion of a work of art - not the work one is creating at the moment, but of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-degas/one-must-have-a-high-opinion-of-a-work-of-art-not-the-work-one-is/) [Edgar Degas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-degas/) > [A work of art is a work of order, and if the artist is to put the stamp of his own mind on his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-peach-robinson/a-work-of-art-is-a-work-of-order-and-if-the-artist-is-to-put-the/) [Henry Peach Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-peach-robinson/) > [The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art - and, by analogy, our own experience - more,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-aim-of-all-commentary-on-art-now-should-be-to-make-works-of-art/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [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/) > [ART Art is that thing having to do only with itself—the product of a successful attempt to make a work of art. Unfortunately, there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/art-art-is-that-thing-having-to-do-only-with-itself-the-product-of-a/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [The satisfaction of producing a work of art is the thing of getting off on it on some level.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-garcia/the-satisfaction-of-producing-a-work-of-art-is-the-thing-of-getting/) [Jerry Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-garcia/) > [To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art does not live in the present, it must not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/to-me-there-is-no-past-or-future-in-art-if-a-work-of-art-does-not/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [“Now a work of art is a work of nature, but it is a work of human nature. It is a work of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-lloyd-wright/now-a-work-of-art-is-a-work-of-nature-but-it-is-a-work-of-human/) [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-lloyd-wright/) > [The price of a work of art has nothing to do with what the work of art is, can do, or is worth on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/the-price-of-a-work-of-art-has-nothing-to-do-with-what-the-work-of/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [A novel is not just a work of art: It is somehow a work of life as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-elliott/a-novel-is-not-just-a-work-of-art-it-is-somehow-a-work-of-life-as-well/) [George P Elliott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-elliott/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? It’s biologically + psychologically too turbulent a time to be cooped up inside, made to sit all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/why-not-eliminate-schooling-between-age-12-16-it-s-biologically/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-photograph-people-is-to-violate-them-by-seeing-them-as-they-never/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves. The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## 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": "Art is not only about something; it is something. 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