4. The Spirit, Soul, and Body of Man

One may have many objections to the kind of art criticism practiced by the inspiring and likeable writer Herman Grimm, but if one has a feeling for it, even if one often disagrees with some of Herman Grimm's statements, even if one finds him amateurish compared to what strict scholars have to say, one must admit: There is something in his writings that draws you to the works of art, to the artists, even to their personal character. There is, I would say, something atmospheric in Herman Grimm's writings that immediately transports you from what he says to the essence of what he is talking about. One may ask oneself: How does such a mind come to distinguish itself in such a characteristic way from others who may be quite learned? For those who are accustomed to not talking about such things in general abstract terms, but rather to seeking real reasons for such a phenomenon, the following may then become apparent: For example, at one point—but you can make similar observations in other places in Herman Grimm's writings—where Herman Grimm talks about Raphael in a very beautiful essay, you will come across a few sentences that may sound provocative and annoying to those who are dry, pedantic, sober scholars. Herman Grimm says what he thinks one would feel if one encountered Raphael today, and how one would feel quite differently if one encountered Michelangelo today. — Isn't it true that to talk about such things in a scientific treatise is, for some, a pipe dream from the outset? Of course, one can certainly understand such a judgment. In Herman Grimm's work, you will find such strange remarks in numerous places. One might say that he indulges in certain conceptual contexts from the outset, knowing full well that they cannot be realized in immediate reality, and of course he does not mean to say anything special about external reality with such remarks. But anyone who has repeatedly indulged in such trains of thought would have—not in this area, of course, because in this area such trains of thought lead nowhere—but in other areas, in other points of his consideration, the result that his soul forces have been set in motion in such a way that he can look deeper into things, express them more accurately than others who disdain such “unnecessary” trains of thought. That is what matters, and what I would like to emphasize.