“Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren’t all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsay able than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

Often critique from an expert feels objective. Since they have studied the field for many more years it feels like their opinion should have the most weight.

But things are not so simple according to Rilke.

It is the complexity of life that also renders art complex; which means any words said about the art are incomplete if they do not recognize the vastness. Perhaps then, looking through Rilke’s lens, all criticism is is a merely a misunderstanding…or, *lack* of imagination.