How they are all about, these gentlemen In chamberlains' apparel, stocked and laced, Like night around their order's star and gem And growing ever darker, stony-faced, And these, their ladies, fragile, wan, but propped High by their bodice, one hand loosely dropped, Small like its collar, on the toy King-Charles:How they surround each one of these who stopped To read and contemplate the objects d'art, Of which some pieces still are theirs, not ours. Whit exquisite decorum they allow us A life of whose dimensions we seem sure And which they cannot grasp. They were alive To bloom, that is be fair; we, to mature, That is to be of darkness and to strive. Rainer Maria Rilke
About This Quote

In the last few years, there have been a number of articles published in the press about the art market. The pieces discussed are very beautiful, but this quote really sums up my feelings about what happens in the art world. The art world would be better off if people did not attempt to put their own meanings on pieces of art. I don’t know why people do this, but they feel that it is their right to do so. Well, I think that it is their right to be able to own things that they like, but that does not give them the right to make themselves feel better about things that were not theirs in the first place.

Source: The Best Of Rilke: 72 Formtrue Verse Translations With Facing Originals, Commentary And Compact Biography

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