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People say of such-and-such a painter that he has great command of his brush. Might it not be more correct to say that he is controlled of his brush? Merely for the satisfaction of his vanity, to paint brilliantly and display skill with the brush, he has sacrificed the nobler considerations of naturalness and truth – and thus achieved sorry fame as a brilliant technician.

— Caspar David Friedrich

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More quotes by Caspar David Friedrich

The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand; there I represented it in the reeds.

The pure, frank sentiments we hold in our hearts are the only truthful sources of art.

The beauty, the spirit of Germany, its sun, moon, stars, rocks, seas and rivers can never be expressed this way..

All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour; an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it.

You call me a misanthrope because I avoid society. You err; I love society. Yet in order not to hate people, I must avoid their company.

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