Art is long and life is short

The word ART in this maxim means not just painting. It means all forms of artistic expressions like sculpture, literature and even scientific works. The meaning of this maxim is that human life is short whereas the artistic work produced by man is long lasting and even forms the identification of a society and a particular race of people.

Art achieved by these people is so vast and it does not have any limit and so a person who wants to achieve perfection should practice. A perfect art will survive the passing of time and it will be famous world wide. Leonardo Da-Vinci was a great artist and he made the famous paintings THE LAST SUPPER and THE MONA LISA. He was not only a painter but also an inventor. He invented the scissors and drew various diagrams for the Parachute, Glider, Battle Tank and Submarine. He is remembered world wide for his contributions to the society. Though Da Vinci has passed away his name still survives because of his artistic contributions to the society.

Art is long and life is short

The phrase art is long and life is short is a proverb that suggests that works of art last much longer than human lives.

The phrase comes from the first two lines of the Aphorismi by the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. What he meant by these lines is:

“it takes a long time to acquire and perfect one’s expertise (in, say, medicine) and one has but a short time in which to do it.”