The artist is not fully in control of his own talent. He is at the mercy of inspiration, circumstances, bad influences, degeneracy and the one-sided influences of his cherished values. Good work therefore always surprises the artist. You cannot create excellence on command. The products of craft, decorum and routine can be evoked at any time to the same standard. Genuine works of art also require what comes from outside the artist, and is therefore not controllable, but unexpected and surprising.

It is the artist’s job, on the one hand, to wash his brushes every day and, on the other hand, to create the possibility of the numinous arriving by anticipation. It is the expectation of wonder without a palette that has given birth to the insatiable existentialists. And the kunstwollen, which excludes the possibility of catharsis and is certain of it, gave birth to the isms.