Cubism? There is no such thing as Cubism..
Picasso, non-Cubist painter
A man’s life is his work; his work is his life.
Jackson Pollock, painter, (Abstract Expressionism)
Speaking to a lawyer about pictures, is something like talking to a butcher about humanity.
John Constable, painter, 1824
One learns about painting by looking at and imitating other painters.
All profoundly original art looks ugly at first.
Clement Greenberg, American art critic, (Abstract Expressionism)
Architecture is the art of how to waste space.
Philip Johnson, visionary architect, New York Times, 1964
Don’t imagine that ‘Art’ is something that is designed to give a gentle uplift and self confidence. Art is not a brassiere, at least not in the English sense. But then again don’t forget that brassiere is the French for ‘life jacket’.
Julian Barnes, writer, ‘Flaubert’s Parrot’
Artists who approach perfection, don’t have many ideas.
Odilon Redon, painter, ‘To Myself: Journal’ (Symbolism)
The canvas upon which the artist paints is the spectator’s mind.
Kakuzo Okakura, ‘The Book of Tea’
Painting, isn’t so difficult when you don’t know…but when you do…it’s quite a different matter.
Edgar Degas, painter, (Impressionism)
But, after all, the aim of art is to create space - space that is not compromised by decoration or illustration, space within which the subjects of painting can live.
Frank Stella, The Studio, (Minimalism)
Only bad painters enjoy painting.
Cecil Collins, painter, Tate Gallery exhibition catalogue, 1989
In painting, you have to destroy in order to gain…you have got to sacrifice something you are quite pleased with in order to get something better. Of course, it’s a bit of a risk..
Graham Sutherland, painter, 1954 (Neo-Romanticism)
A mature artist is at the same time aware of the futility of his achievement and of the validity of his pursuit.
Jean Helion, painter
An illustrational form tells you through the intelligence immediately what the form is about, whereas a non-illustrational form works first upon sensation and then slowly leaks back into the fact.
Francis Bacon, painter
All artists are Anarchists.
George Bernard Shaw, writer,
I have lived enough among painters and around studios to have had all the theories-and how contradictory they are-rammed down my throat. A man has to have a gizzard like an ostrich to digest all the brass-tacks and wire nails of modern art theories.
DH Lawrence, writer, Assorted Articles
You can look at a painting for a whole week and then never think about it again. You can look at a painting for a second and think about it for the rest of your life.
Joan Miro, painter, (Surrealism)
The airless studios grow stifling. Kick open the door-the hum of life turns into a roar.
Feliks Topolski, BBC Third Programme, 1946
Think of the musical role colour will hence fourth play in modern painting, colour which vibrates just like music, is able to attain what is most general and yet so elusive in nature-namely inner force.
Paul Gauguin, 1899, (Post Impressionism)
It is through…Art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.
Oscar Wilde, writer,
There really is no such thing as art. There are only artists.
Ernst Gombrich, writer, The Story of Art
I like to keep the meanings in my work flowing and open.
Bill Viola, contemporary video artist
Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of, but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance.
Henri Matisse, painter
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