da the guardian.co.uk
"We love kitsch as well as loathe it (hence the interest in the sale of Tretchikoff's and Dali's paintings) but snobbery hovers around the term. This is misguided because, by modern definitions, some of the greatest works of art in the world are kitsch.
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Garish and sentimental? That applies to the sculpture of Gianlorenzo Bernini. Surely, the most kitsch painting in the world is the Mona Lisa – it even has its own Tin Pan Alley song – and yet it is also a supreme masterpiece.
The painter Cy Twombly once told an interviewer he listened to music when he worked. The interviewer thought he meant modernist music, but no – he listened to Tchaikovsky. I love that lack of "good taste". Tchaikovsky is both kitsch and profound.
Art is beyond taste. Leave your prejudices behind when you want to be uplifted."
