Walking Self-Portrait

“With the artist, the external is not only defined by the internal, but it is also created by the internal, as in any other creation, even that of the cosmos. Seen from this vantage point, the artworks of Schönberg permit us to recognize his emotional complex beneath the imprint of his form. First of all, we see immediately that Schönberg paints not in order to paint something ‘beautiful’ or ‘engaging,’ but that he paints without even thinking about the picture itself. Renouncing the objective result, he seeks to affix only his subjective ‘feelings,’ and uses for that purpose only the means which seem to him indispensable at that moment. Not every professional artist can lay claim to this mode of creativity! Or stated differently, infinitely few professional artists possess this fortunate power, and at times this heroism, this energy of renunciation, whereby all kinds of artistic diamonds and pearls, when they fall of themselves into their hands, are quietly left aside unnoticed, or are even discarded. Schönberg proceeds directly toward his goal, or led by his goal, directly toward the necessary resolution.” (Wassily Kandinsky, The Paintings, in Arnold Schönberg. Mit Beiträgen von Alban Berg et al. Munich 1912)