Quote by William Eastlake, interview, 197
The artist simply reveals, he doesn't explain. Freud tried to figure this out because he felt it very important to understand what makes a creative person tick. And he said that he had failed. In other words, I don't think that the artist is a scientist; he's almost the antithesis of the scientist. He cannot explain, he can only state. He makes a poetic statement, and the psychiatrist figures out why that is a universal truth. The psychiatrist tells people why they behave the way they do; the artist tells how they behave.
Summary
This quote suggests that artists have a unique role in society compared to scientists or psychiatrists. While scientists aim to explain phenomena and psychiatrists analyze behavior to provide explanations, artists reveal truths through their work without providing explicit explanations. The artist's focus is on making poetic statements and capturing the essence of human behavior, while it is the role of the psychiatrist to interpret and analyze these statements to find universal truths. Ultimately, the artist and the psychiatrist approach understanding and explaining human behavior from different perspectives.