"The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it"
About this Quote
Voltaire is doing what he does best: smuggling a political philosophy into an apparently polite remark about aesthetics. He starts with a disarming distinction - “little” versus “great” can “contrast” in painting without being “contrary.” Contrast is productive: it clarifies scale, heightens drama, makes the composition intelligible. But “contrary” colors don’t just differ; they clash, “shock the eye,” and create an “ill effect” when forced into proximity. The subtext is unmistakable: difference isn’t the enemy. Incompatibility is.
In the Enlightenment context, that matters. Voltaire spent his life arguing against the era’s favorite habit: turning disagreement into moral contamination. His target isn’t only bad taste; it’s the absolutist impulse to treat every deviation as a threat that must be stamped out. By using painting as the example, he gets to sound empirical rather than preachy. The eye becomes his courtroom: a quiet appeal to perception, not doctrine.
There’s also a sly warning hidden in the phrase “brought very near it.” Contrariety isn’t always inherent; it can be manufactured by proximity, by forcing elements together without mediation. Read politically, this is a jab at coercive uniformity - the state, the church, the ideologue insisting everything share the same frame. Voltaire’s wit here is that he doesn’t deny conflict exists. He just refuses to confuse healthy contrast (pluralism, scale, variety) with the kind of engineered clash that produces only noise and damage.
In the Enlightenment context, that matters. Voltaire spent his life arguing against the era’s favorite habit: turning disagreement into moral contamination. His target isn’t only bad taste; it’s the absolutist impulse to treat every deviation as a threat that must be stamped out. By using painting as the example, he gets to sound empirical rather than preachy. The eye becomes his courtroom: a quiet appeal to perception, not doctrine.
There’s also a sly warning hidden in the phrase “brought very near it.” Contrariety isn’t always inherent; it can be manufactured by proximity, by forcing elements together without mediation. Read politically, this is a jab at coercive uniformity - the state, the church, the ideologue insisting everything share the same frame. Voltaire’s wit here is that he doesn’t deny conflict exists. He just refuses to confuse healthy contrast (pluralism, scale, variety) with the kind of engineered clash that produces only noise and damage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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