Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteauwas a French writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. Cocteau is best known for his novel Les Enfants Terribles, and the films Blood of a Poet, Les Parents Terribles, Beauty and the Beastand Orpheus. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Yul Brynner, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, Albert Gleizes, Igor Stravinsky, Marie Laurencin, María Félix, Édith Piaf, Panama Al Brown, Colette, Jean Genet,...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 July 1889
CityMaisons-Laffitte, France
CountryFrance
When a work of art appears to be in advance of its period, it is really the period that has lagged behind the work of art
Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.
The art of genius is knowing how far out is too far.
The artist must know how far to go too far.
The ultimate politeness in art consists of speaking only to those who are able to uncover and measure its relationships. Anything else is symbolic, and symbolism is merely transcendental imagery.
The artist is a kind of prison from which the works of art escape.
Look out! Be on your guard, because alone of all the arts, music moves all around you.
Art is science made flesh.
The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.
The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.
Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail.
Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time.
Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.
One must be a living man and a posthumous artist.