--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art teaches us to see into things. Folk…" description: "\"Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch allow us to see outward from within things.\" — Walter Benjamin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/walter-benjamin-1723_art_art-teaches-us-to-see-into-things-folk-a_3098745.jpg" --- # Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch… ![“Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch allow us to see outward from within things.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/walter-benjamin-1723_art_art-teaches-us-to-see-into-things-folk-a_3098745.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/walter-benjamin-1723_art_art-teaches-us-to-see-into-things-folk-a_3098745.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/walter-benjamin-1723_art_art-teaches-us-to-see-into-things-folk-a_3098745.jpg) > “Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch allow us to see outward from within things.” [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art reveals hidden structures and perspectives, while folk art and kitsch expose inner meanings outwardly. **In simple terms:** Art shows hidden layers and outward expressions. Key Takeaway Look beyond surface to discover deeper insights. Themes perception art culture interpretation Mood contemplative curious Type analytical inspirational When to use this quote - museum curation - design thinking - education - community projects Key Concepts aesthetics semiotics social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does folk art change your view of everyday objects? - What does “seeing outward from within” mean to you? A Different Perspective May overlook nuance in favor of novelty. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Folk art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folk-art/) [Kitsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kitsch/) ## Related quotes > [Because modernism has conquered art, kitsch is the savior of talent and devotion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/odd-nerdrum/because-modernism-has-conquered-art-kitsch-is-the-savior-of-talent/) [Odd Nerdrum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/odd-nerdrum/) > [To tell you the truth, I am rather perplexed by the concept of 'art'. What one person considers to be 'art' is often not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-c-escher/to-tell-you-the-truth-i-am-rather-perplexed-by-the-concept-of-art/) [M. C. Escher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-c-escher/) > [The maker of kitsch does not create inferior art, he is not an incompetent or a bungler, he cannot be evaluated by aesthetic standards;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-broch/the-maker-of-kitsch-does-not-create-inferior-art-he-is-not-an/) [Hermann Broch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-broch/) > [To call a work of art Kitsch is to condemn it for being bad art. But there is a great deal of bad art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karsten-harries/to-call-a-work-of-art-kitsch-is-to-condemn-it-for-being-bad-art-but/) [Karsten Harries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karsten-harries/) > [In spite of their obvious differences, folk art and popular art have much in common; they are easy to understand, they are romantic, patriotic,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-seldes/in-spite-of-their-obvious-differences-folk-art-and-popular-art-have/) [Gilbert Seldes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-seldes/) > [Photography is the dominant and fascinating and only authentic folk art of the twentieth century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rothenstein/photography-is-the-dominant-and-fascinating-and-only-authentic-folk/) John Rothenstein > [The only thing I collect is art. I collect it because I like looking at it. A lot of it is really personal stuff…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-hanna/the-only-thing-i-collect-is-art-i-collect-it-because-i-like-looking/) [Kathleen Hanna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-hanna/) > [When I left the theater… I was thinking that I’d seen a classic of American dance. It confers a mythic dimension on ordinary aspects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlene-croce/when-i-left-the-theater-i-was-thinking-that-i-d-seen-a-classic-of/) [Arlene Croce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlene-croce/) > [Kitsch offers instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, wihtout sublimation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/kitsch-offers-instantaneous-emotional-gratification-without/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [I think art teaches us how to feel, what our parameters can be, what sensations can be like; it makes you more engaged with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-koons/i-think-art-teaches-us-how-to-feel-what-our-parameters-can-be-what/) [Jeff Koons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-koons/) > [Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/art-teaches-nothing-except-the-significance-of-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Since philosophy is the art which teaches us how to live, and since children need to learn it as much as we do at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/since-philosophy-is-the-art-which-teaches-us-how-to-live-and-since-2/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Art becomes a spiritual process depending upon the degree of commitment that you bring to it. Every experience becomes direct food for your art.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-bantock/art-becomes-a-spiritual-process-depending-upon-the-degree-of/) [Nick Bantock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-bantock/) > [Art in relation to life is nothing more than a glove turned inside out. It seems to have the same shapes and contours, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morton-feldman/art-in-relation-to-life-is-nothing-more-than-a-glove-turned-inside/) [Morton Feldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morton-feldman/) > [Since philosophy is the art which teaches us how to live, and since children need to learn it as much as we do at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/since-philosophy-is-the-art-which-teaches-us-how-to-live-and-since/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) ## More by Walter Benjamin > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than of convictions, and of such facts as have scarcely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-construction-of-life-is-at-present-in-the-power-of-facts-far-more/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“It should be pointed out that certain correlative concepts retain their meaning, and possibly their foremost significance, if they are referred exclusively to man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/it-should-be-pointed-out-that-certain-correlative-concepts-retain/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/allegories-are-in-the-realm-of-thought-what-ruins-are-in-the-realm-of/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Things are only mannequins and even the great world-historical events are only costumes beneath which they exchange glances with nothingness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/things-are-only-mannequins-and-even-the-great-world-historical-events/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“to great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they labor their entire lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/to-great-writers-finished-works-weigh-lighter-than-those-fragments-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-religions-have-honored-the-beggar-for-he-proves-that-in-a-matter/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-camera-introduces-us-to-unconscious-optics-as-does-psychoanalysis/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [During long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence. The manner in which human sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/during-long-periods-of-history-the-mode-of-human-sense-perception/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Melancholy betrays the world for the sake of knowledge. But in its tenacious self-absorption it embraces dead objects in its contemplation, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/melancholy-betrays-the-world-for-the-sake-of-knowledge-but-in-its/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [There was the pedestrian who wedged himself into the crowd, but there was also the flneur who demanded elbow room and was unwilling to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/there-was-the-pedestrian-who-wedged-himself-into-the-crowd-but-there/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-power-of-a-text-is-different-when-it-is-read-from-when-it-is/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/quotations-in-my-work-are-like-wayside-robbers-who-leap-out-armed-and/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Each morning the day lies like a fresh shirt on our bed; this incomparably fine, incomparably tightly woven tissue of pure prediction fits us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/each-morning-the-day-lies-like-a-fresh-shirt-on-our-bed-this/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) [Explore all 207 Walter Benjamin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## 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. 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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 > [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 teaches us to see into things. 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