Art Quote by Walker Percy
““The salvation of art derives in the best of modern times from a celebration of the triumph of the autonomous self—as in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony—and in the worst of times from naming the unspeakable: the strange and feckless movements of the self trying to escape itself. Exhilaration comes from naming the unnameable and hearing it named. If Kafka’s Metamorphosis is presently a more accurate account of the self than Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, it is the more exhilarating for being so.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: *The Moviegoer* by Walker Percy, 1961
Art reflects both humanity’s triumphs and its struggles to name the unspeakable.
In simple terms: Art shows triumph and struggle.
Key Takeaway
Embrace art’s paradoxes.
Themes
art
existentialism
self
identity
philosophical
literary
Mood
introspective
philosophical
Type
literary
existential
When to use this quote
- museum visits
- creative writing
- self‑reflection
Key Concepts
cultural critique
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- How does art help you confront the unknown?
- What unspeakable aspects do you face?
A Different Perspective
Art can be elitist and inaccessible.
![“[In art] you are telling the reader or the listener or the viewer something he already knows but which he doesn't quite know that he knows, so that in the action of communication he experiences a recognition, a feeling that he has been there before, a shock of recognition.” quote by Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3f1/walker-percy-1958_action_in-art-you-are-telling-the-reader-or-the_116938.jpg)
