As regards other artists, I am very tolerant, but at the same time most severe; my opinion of artists is influenced but little by considerations of the element of form, pure and simple; I expect of the artist to bear within at least the “sacred spark” (if not “flame”). There really is nothing easier than to master the form of something or someone. Boecklin is quoted as having said that even a poodle-dog might learn how to draw, and in this he was correct. At the schools I attended I had more than a hundred colleagues who had learned something, many had in good time managed to draw quite well and anatomically correct--_still_, they were not artists, not a pfennig’s worth. In short, I value _only_ those artists who really are artists; that is, who consciously or unconsciously, in an _entirely original form_, or in a style bearing their _personal imprint_, embody the expression of their _inner self_; who, consciously or unconsciously, work _only_ for _this end_ and cannot work _otherwise_. The number of such artists is very few. If I were a collector I would buy the works of such even if there were weaknesses in what they did; _such_ weaknesses grow less in time and finally disappear entirely, and though they may be apparent in the earlier works of the artist still they do not deprive even these earlier and less perfect works of value. But the _other_ weakness, that of _lack of soul_, never decreases with time, but is sure to grow worse and become more and more apparent, and so render absolutely valueless works that _technically_ may be very correct. The entire history of art is proof of this. The _union_ of _both_ kinds of strength--that of intellect or spirituality with that of form, or technical perfection--is most rare, as is also demonstrated by the history of art. * * * * * From his exceedingly abstruse article “On the Question of Form” in “Der Blaue Reiter,” I take and paraphrase the following: At certain times our inner forces--impulses--mature and the result is a longing to create something, and we try to find a material form--manifestation--for the _new value_ that exists in us in spiritual or intellectual form. This is the seeking of the _spiritual_ for material expression. Matter is but the store house out of which the spirit selects the necessary elements to secure the objective result. Thus the _creative spirit_ is hidden in the matter, behind the material manifestation through which it must make itself known. But often the material envelope is so dense that only a few people can discern the spiritual idea within and behind it; some people never penetrate behind the matter at all, and therefore, never comprehend the spiritual message.