4. The Miserable Pursuit of Knowledge
THE trend of this book shows clearly that I am no realist. Although, in my solitude, years ago, I made many careful drawings of various things and gained some knowledge of their mechanism, my labours brought me no pleasure save the small satisfaction of having done a self-inflicted task after reading miserable books on art. In those days I pitied myself; but now I pity the miserable authors. The education of the painter is a mistake: educate theman! The painter willfind himself, sooner or later. If there is no painter in him his case is hopeless.
Art education, so called, which is the training of the eye and the hand, gives one a facility for recording facts:truthnever. Truth isfelt. To the painter, the poet, the romanticist facts are cold things belonging to the past—dead things that have nothing to do with intuition,vision,truth. He must dream new dreams, employ new methods, create new things! He is not a common creature and, therefore, should not be entrusted with any public responsibility: but God grant that in all the economic medley, called civilization, he may have the right to live.