The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is.

The line argues that artistic perception is inseparable from the artist’s inner life. What an artist selects, emphasizes, or distorts is shaped by temperament, experience, desires, and moral or emotional disposition; “seeing” is already an act of interpretation. The quote thus rejects the ideal of purely objective representation in art and aligns with the broader notion that artworks are, in part, self-portraits of the maker’s consciousness. It also implies that audiences should read art not only as a window onto the world but as evidence of the artist’s character and sensibility—an insight that applies equally to painting, literature, and criticism.