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What are we supposed to do [reacting furiously on art-critic Jules Castagnary who proclaimed the so-called new School of Impressionism, 29 April 1874 in the Paris journal 'Le Siècle'] about these stupid literary people who will never understand that painting is a craft! You make it with materials, not ideas! The ideas come afterwards, when the painting is finished.

— Pierre-Auguste Renoir

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Art

More quotes by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The artist who uses the least of what is called imagination, will be the greatest!

Giles Auty (1977)

People will keep on taking them for theorists, when all they wanted was to paint in gay, bright colours, like the old masters.

I would never have taken up painting if women did not have breasts.

They've found fault with me enough, in all conscience, for putting violet shadows on bodies.

One morning one of us had run out of black; and that was the birth of Impressionism.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.