Art does not render the Visible; Rather it makes Visible

Abstract

In this essay the author examines Klee’s famous statement in his Cre-ative Confession (1920), which goes as follows: “Kunst gibt nicht das Sichtbare wieder, sondern macht sichtbar”. In conclusion, he argues that it should sound this way: “Art does not render the Visible; rather it makes the Visible possible (it lets the Visible happen)”. Art, according to Klee, has the power of giving us the access to the domain of pure potentiality, i.e. of pure ideas, anticipating the sphere of empirical experience — in other words, art anticipates what is real, “given”, or “visible”. While the traditional art represents, it means „rends visible”, the abstract one (Klee’s new art) — makes vision as well as visible possible (“makes visible”).