"Of all the pitfalls in our paths and the tremendous delays and wanderings off the track, I want to say that they are not what they seem to be. I want to say that all that seems like fantastic mistakes are not mistakes, all that seems like error is not error; and it all has to be done. That which seems like a false step is the next step."
"I hope I have made it clear that the work is about perfection as we are aware of it in our minds but that the paintings are very far from being perfect - completely removed in fact - even as we ourselves are."
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Source: Ned Rifkin, Agnes Martin, Edward Hirsch, Menil Collection (Houston, Tex.) (2002). “Agnès Martin: the nineties and beyond”, Hatje Cantz Pub
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More quotes by Agnes Martin
"Doing what you were born to do … That's the way to be happy."
"My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind."
"Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings."
"Beauty and happiness and life are all the same and they are pervasive, unattached and abstract and they are our only concern. They are immeasurable, completely lacking in substance. They are perfect and sublime. This is the subject matter of art."
"When I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence, and I still do, and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision."