29 quotes
You study, you learn, but you guard the original naiveté. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.
A picture must possess a real power to generate light.. ..for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.
Matisse (1984)
Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality.
Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.
I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have the light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me..
Rules have no existence outside of individuals: otherwise a good professor would be as great a genius as Racine.
Notes of a Painter (1908)
Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.
Matisse (1984)
There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.
In a picture every part will be visible and will play the role conferred upon it, be it principal or secondary. All that is not useful in the picture is detrimental.
Notes d'un Peintre (Notes of a Painter) (1908)
I simply try to put down colours which render my sensation.
Notes of a Painter (1908)
It is only after years of preparation that the young [artist] should touch color — not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.
The simplest means are those which best enable an artist to express himself. His means of expression must derive almost all of necessity from his temperament.
Notes of a Painter (1908)
Drawing with scissors: To cut to the quick in color reminds me of the direct cutting of sculptors.
Jazz (1947)
For me all is in the conception. I must therefore have a clear vision of the whole from the beginning.
Notes of a Painter (1908)
I don't paint things. I only paint the differences between things.
I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
We are born with the sensibility of a period of civilization. We are not masters of our production; it is imposed upon us.
An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythms, by effort that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.
I will repeat what I once said to Guillaume Apollinaire: "For my part I have never avoided the influence of others. I would have considered it cowardice and a lack of sincerity toward myself."
The artist begins with a vision — a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage.
Artist to Artist : Inspiration and Advice from Visual Artists Past & Present (1998)