Alain de Botton on ‘Art as Therapy’
Excerpts from one of our favourite texts, ‘Art as Therapy’ by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong.
Alain de Botton photographed by Victoria Birkinshaw
“In ‘Art as Therapy,’ we argue that art is a tool that can variously help to inspire, console, redeem, guide, comfort, expand and reawaken us.”
“Growth occurs when we discover how to remain authentically ourselves in the presence of potentially threatening things. Maturity is the possession of coping skills: we can take in our stride things that previously would have knocked us off course. We are less fragile, less easily shocked and hence more capable of engaging with situations as they really are.”
“An important first step in overcoming defensiveness around art is to become more open about the strangeness that we feel in certain contexts.”
“It is when we find points of connection to the foreign that we are able to grow.”
“Art builds up self-knowledge, and is an excellent way of communicating the resulting fruit to other people.”
“Art can do the opposite of glamourising the unattainable; it can reawaken us to the genuine merit of life as we’re forced to lead it.”
“The values captured in art shouldn’t remain in the museum – they should go with us into the playroom.”