Famous Quotes explained: « I am weary of museums, cemeteries of the arts. » , Lamartine, Voyage en Orient, 1835.

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Famous Quotes explained: « I am weary of museums, cemeteries of the arts. », Lamartine, Voyage en Orient, 1835.

This quote from the Romantic poet is taken from his work « Voyage en Orient, » which recounts his travels in the Middle East. He expresses his opinion on museums, which is negative.

To the author, a museum thus resembles a cemetery for the arts. He conceives of art as something living. In a museum, the works or antiquities on display are taken out of their original context. They no longer participate in the life of a place, an interior or an exterior. They are no longer linked to a history, a geography. They have no other use than to be looked at, observed by a public of enthusiasts.

Thus, Lamartine’s point of view is understandable. Indeed, the works are dead. Museums show past centuries in a disembodied manner. Art, as a movement of creation, is frozen, fixed to a wall or behind a display case. Each location may seem like a small tomb of what was, but no longer moves.

However, this negative and romantic vision of museums can obviously be tempered. A museum is also an opportunity for everyone to discover, marvel, and feel. The works given to the view of all could have remained confidential. We therefore have this extraordinary possibility to know and admire works that we could not have seen without a museum. So it is perhaps also the opposite of a cemetery, since it is a place of emotions and sensations.

I am weary of museums, cemeteries of the arts

Links to Another quotes explained: Famous quotes explained: « Education is given by the family; instruction is owed by the state. », Victor Hugo, Words and deeds, 1876. Famous Quotes explained: « One person is missing, and everything is depopulated. » Méditations poétiques, « L’Isolement », Lamartine, 1820. Famous quotes explained: « To love is to know how to say ‘I love you’ without speaking. » Victor Hugo

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