“Because the soul is progressive, it never quite repeats itself, but in every act attempts the production of a new and fairer whole. Thus, in our fine arts, not imitation, but creation is the aim. In landscapes, the painter should give the suggestion of a fairer creation than we know. The details, the prose of nature he should omit, and give us only the spirit and splendor. […] and he will come to value the expression of nature, and not nature itself, and so exalt in his copy, the features that please him. He will give the gloom of gloom, and the sunshine of sunshine.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay, Art, 1841