Georg Baselitz Quotes

I truly believe that art can be an agent of change and has been, throughout history, a tool to enlighten the individual and society.

I feel like art has been at the center of change since the beginning of time.

The artist has tremendous power to change the world.

What the soul is to the body, so is the artist to his people.

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.

Can art change the world? Maybe... we should change the question: Can art change people's lives?

My role as an artist is not to make changes [in society] but to inspire changes.

It is the tragic story of the cultural crusader in a mass society that he cannot win, but that we would be lost without him.

I think you have a responsibility as an artist to continually reach a hand out and try and inspire people.

Art can end up answering questions or asking questions. But when it's not connected to actual movements, it doesn't ask the right questions.

It would, of course, be wrong to say that the arts have no social value. They have tremendous power and can often, indirectly, make our world a better place to live in.

I've always been a believer in the power of art - and music in particular - to inspire change.

Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the world.

I do believe that painting can change the world.

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.

You can positively affect and change a social circumstance with art, and it’s vital that a change happens now.

Men cannot improve a society by setting fire to it: they must seek out its old virtues, and bring them back into the light.

It is madness beyond compare To try to reform the world.

Artists die twice. First creatively. Then physically. The second one is the easiest.

I think that these are different times, and different things are available to artists, and certain things have become passé. You've already seen the outcome of a lot of things that seemed to have a lot of potential. We've already heard that, and I can't tell you if it made a difference or not. But we already know that artists can do that, and they shouldn't feel threatened by doing it. They're probably not going to change the world. They're going to change a few people's perspectives and maybe make somebody's day at times, if they can.

Artists... disappeared long ago as social forces. So did the church.

Burmese authors and artists can play the role that artists everywhere play. They help to mold the outlook of a society - not the whole outlook and they are not the only ones to mold the outlook of society, but they have an important role to play there. And I think if they take up this role seriously and link it to the kind of changes were wish to bring about in our country they could be a tremendous help.

Music has given a voice to many generations, and I think we, as artists, can be a part of creating a better world.

What does one prefer? An art that struggles to change the social contract, but fails? Or one that seeks to please and amuse, and succeeds?

No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.