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Quote by Peter Gay

“I have always had a strong interest in history and finding out about the past can be remarkably helpful with working out the future, too.”

Quote by Peter Gay

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Peter Gay
Peter Gay

Peter Gay was an American historian and cultural critic, born on June 20, 1923, and died on May 12, 2015. He is renowned for his extensive research in the cultural history of 18th-century Europe, and his works have had a profound impact on subsequent generations. more

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“There are so many things in the world - in the cities - so much to see. Does art need to represent this variety and contribute to its proliferation? Can art be that free? The difficulties begin when you understand what it is that the soul will not permit the hand to make.”

“Then you learn about composition, you learn about old masters, you form certain ideas about structure. But the inhuman activity of trying to make some kind of jump or leap, where , the painting is always saying, 'What do you want from me? I can only be a painting.' You have to go from part to part, but you shouldn't see yourself go from part to part, that's the whole point.”

“Where do you put a form? It will move all around, bellow out and shrink, and sometimes it winds up where it was in the first place. But at the end it feels different, and it had to make the voyage. I am a moralist and cannot accept what has not been paid for, or a form that has not been lived through.”