Art Quotes

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

“Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.”

“Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.”

“It is all very well to copy what one sees; it is much better to draw what one has only seen in one's memory.”

“Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression. A species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.”

“If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.”

“What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.”

“Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.”

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint, and the picture would be unnecessary.”

“The first merit of a painting is to be a feast for the eye.”

“Colour is the fruit of light.”

“What inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.”

“Nature is a dictionary; one draws words from it.”

“Do all the work you can; that is the whole philosophy of the good way of life.”

“The most important thing in a picture is that which cannot be explained.”

“Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels.”

“I have had three masters: Nature, Velázquez, and Rembrandt.”

“Painting, like poetry, selects in the universe whatever she deems most appropriate to her ends.”

“Always lines, never forms. But where do they find these lines in nature? I only see lighted forms and planes.”

“I paint flowers so they will not die.”

“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.”

“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light.”

“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way — things I had no words for.”

“To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage.”

“I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me — shapes and ideas so near to me — so natural to my way of being and thinking.”

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time.”

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant — there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.”

“Art is the highest form of hope.”

“I don't create blurs. Blurring is not the most important thing; nor is it an identity tag for my pictures.”

“Art is a line around your thoughts.”