Henry Miller on what art is for

    Somewhere in the human genome are genes that make us create and appreciate art. For, all cultures early in their histories began creating art: so, art is not learned but inevitable. But what is art for? Henry Miller believed this:

Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life. . . . Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself. (Quoted from The Henry Miller Reader, by Henry Miller. New Directions Publishing. 1969. p. 246.)

    For a brief biography of Henry Miller, click here.