Abstract EN:

Artistic creation may be viewed both as an activity - a generative process - and as the result of this activity - the final work. Considering art as an activity leads to two fundamental questions : how does the artist proceed, and why does he devote himself to the making of a masterpiece? malraux studies the mechanisms of creation, endeavouring to describe in detail its recurrent patterns and their many combinations, so as to define a style. But the status of the artist and the genius as a type are no less important to him. When dealing with the aim of the production, malraux cannot but suscribe to the idea of a never-ending struggle against fate, the most delicate task being the progressive evolution from the visible to the invisible. Deep as his conviction may the that art embodies the confrontation between man and the world, malraux questions himself about the meaning and the value of such a commitment. According to him, the career of a work of art does not end when it's finished and exposed. Indeed, the work is bound to be changed by time and history and will become as many metamorphoses as interpretations it arouses. Its most radical change will come with its admission into the musuem. Indeed, this marks the beginning of a cycle of transformations which only destruction can stop. Malraux has drawn up a general survey on esthetism in which he refutes art being submitted to history and ideologic systems, and emphasizes the importance of the artist's condition and the dynamics of the metamorphoses. The very principle of creativity turns out to be beyond his grasp. However, in his mature essays, the comes through as a creator himself.