L’importanza di sbagliare : L’educazione all’errore in Denis Diderot

Art, evading the principle of utility, opens up to error. A profitable mistake if it is not stubborn. The artist cautiously accesses the logic of the production of nature which is characterized by continuous mutability. Therefore, “the history of man’s errors does him as much honour as the history of his discoveries” (Diderot). Recalling the thought of Jean-Baptiste Du Bos, who debates the importance of mistakes that painters and poets can make against their own rules, the essay investigates Denis Diderot’s thought, outlining a difference between amateur and connaisseur. If the connaisseur can make a mistake, the amateur, vulnerable and fascinated, just needs to have an active and curious attention that will allow him/her to be absorbed in the work of art.