Quote collection
171 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Beauty is an intangible thing; can not be fixed on the surface, and the wear and tear of old age on the body cannot defeat it. Nor will a "pretty" face make it, for "pretty" faces are often dull and empty, and beauty is never dull and it fills all spaces."
"The more simply you see, the more simply you will render. People see too much, scatteringly."
"Your style is the way you talk in paint."
"The real artist's work is a surprise to himself."
"The most vital things in the look of a landscape endure only for a moment. Work should be done from memory; memory of that vital moment."
"The picture that looks as if it were done without an effort may have been a perfect battlefield in its making."
"Count on big lines to express your ideas."
"Strokes carry a message whether you will it or not. The stroke is just like the artist at the time he makes it. All the certainties, all the uncertainties, all the bigness of his spirit and the littlenesses are in it."
"Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture."
"Fight with yourself when you paint, not with the model. A student is one who struggles with himself for order."
"Everything depends on the attitude of the artist toward his subject. It is essential."
"You pass people on the street, some are for you, some are not."
"Be a warhorse for work and enjoy even the struggle against defeat."
"There has never been a painting that was more beautiful than nature. The model does not unfold herself to you, you must rise to her. She should be the inspiration for your painting. No man has ever over-appreciated a human being."
"Perhaps whatever there is in my work that may be really interesting to others and surely what is interesting to me, is the result of a sometimes successful effort to free myself from any idea that what I produce must be art."
"Each sensation is precious, protect it, cherish it, keep it. Never give it away. You must develop that balance which allows all of the world to come in to you, and only that which you have expressed in your art to move back out again into the world."
"All is as beautiful as we think it."
"There are people who buy pictures because they were difficult to do, and are done. Such pictures are often only a record of pain and dull perseverance. Great works of art should look as though they were made in joy. Real joy is a tremendous activity, dull drudgery is nothing to it."
"Finished persons are very common - people who are closed up, quite satisfied that there is little more to learn"
"Art is certainly not a pursuit for anyone who wants to make money."