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Art

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“Cézanne's painting is strictly painting, and its value is immense; but Van Gogh's painting has the Outsider's characteristic: it is a laboratory refuse of a man who treated his own life as an experiment in living; it faithfully records moods and developments of vision on the manner of a Bildungsroman.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Visions are from the imaginative mind, sculpture can come from the found discards in nature, from sticks and stones and parts and pieces, assembled or monolithic, solid form, open form, lines of form, or, like a painting, the illusion of form. And sculpture can be painting and painting can be sculpture..”
David Smith (1906–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I always get into arguments, with people who want to retain the old values in painting — the humanistic values that they always find on the canvas. If you pin them down, they always end up asserting that there is something there besides the paint on the canvas. My painting is based on the fact that only what can be seen there is there. It really is an object. Any painting is an object.”
Frank Stella (1936–2024) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As cited in LIFE, 64:3 (19 January 1968), p. 49
“There are two problems in painting. One is to find out what painting is and the other is to find out how to make a painting. The first is learning something and the second is making something.”
Frank Stella (1936–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's always been a trend toward simpler painting and it was bound to happen one way or another. Whenever painting gets complicated, like Abstract Expressionism, or surrealism, there's going to be someone who's not painting complicated paintings, someone who's trying to simplify...”
Frank Stella (1936–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I remember one day when Juan Gris told me about a bunch of grapes he had seen in a painting by Picasso. The next day these grapes appeared in a painting by Gris, this time in a bowl; and the day after, the bowl appeared in a painting by Picasso.”
Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Morris Louis and I were interested in how Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler [famous for her soak-painting technique] were using paint. Of necessity we had to get more interested in the stuff of painting. We talked a lot about whether to size the painting or not to size, how to mix up paint.”
Kenneth Noland (1924–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I painted a painting called 'Milk River' [in 1963] Cows don't give milk if they don't have grass and water Tremendous meaning of that is that painters can't give anything to the observer People get what they need from a painting The painter need not die because of responsibility When you have inspiration and represent inspiration The observer makes the painting”
Agnes Martin (1912–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is through painting that I understand how to view architecture, appreciate the rhythm of a poem, draw pleasure from the structure of a well-composed sentence. And it is through painting that the complexity of music makes itself understood to me. It is through painting, in fact, that I am.”
Brian Clarke (1953–2025) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Clarke in 1987, in conversation with Paul Beldock, from the Hessisches Landesmuseum publication Brian Clarke: Malerei und Farbfenster 1977–1988.
“Italo Calvino said the artist reveals that bit of truth hidden at the bottom of every lie. Art is all about the art of lying. The artist’s imperative is to create a supreme fiction, a lie that, paradoxically, discloses a truth. It's precisely this kind of paradox that Calvino and Fellini adored.”
Damian Pettigrew (born 1953) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On truth and lies, in O Estado de São Paolo (November, 2003)
“QUESTION: A well-known saying of yours asserts that 'Every man is an artist.' If every man is an artist, then why have art academies and art professors at all?”
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“‘The human body is the work of art. It doesn’t need artists.’ But the artist replies: ‘Okay, let’s say you’re right. What good does your sweating and grunting do. Even the most beautiful body is destroyed by age. Where is beauty then? Only art makes human beauty endure. You must devise an artist’s scheme to preserve it. You must commit suicide at the height of your beauty.’”
Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kyoko's House (1959)
“Art has its tradition, but it is a visual heritage. The artist's language is the memory from sight. Art is made from dreams, and visions, and things not known, and least of all from things that can be said. It comes from the inside of who you are when you face yourself. It is an inner declaration of purpose, it is a factor which determines artist identity.”
David Smith (1906–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Modern art culture needs the artist's book. Unfortunately, those art direction can be promoted only by artistic enthusiasts. It should be the publishers who understand that the artist’s book is also an act of self-expression.”
Alexander Borovsky (born 1952) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alexander Borovsky Invitation to the Artist’s Book / City as Artist's subjectivity. Artist's book project. Catalog. (Rus & En) — SPb: Ed. T. Markova. 2020. — 128 p. — P. 29.
“Yes, This government half of which consists of men who once inspired to serve the arts is conscious of the artist role as an intermediary, this government borne out of the opposition of rationalism knows the people's inner longings, their boundless dreams to which only the artist can give form.”
Hans-Friedrich Blunck (1888–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Architecture of Doom, 1989 documentary by Swedish director Peter Cohen about the obsession Adolf Hitler had with his own particular vision of what was and was not aesthetically acceptable and how he applied these no…
“I shall not find a painting more beautiful because the artist has painted a hawthorn in the foreground, though I know of nothing more beautiful than the hawthorn, for I wish to remain sincere and because I know that the beauty of a painting does not depend on the things represented in it. I shall not collect images of hawthorn. I do not venerate hawthorn, I go to see and smell it.”
Marcel Proust (1871–1922) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface (1910) to The Bible of Amiens by John Ruskin, translated by Proust (1904); from Marcel Proust: On Reading Ruskin, trans. Jean Autret and Philip J. Wolfe (Yale University Press, 1987, , p. 57
“The essential of painting is that something, that 'ethereal glue', that intermediary product which the artist secretes with all his creative being and which he has to place, to encrust, to impregnate into the pictorial stuff of the painting.”
Yves Klein (1928–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Yves Klein, catalogue of exhibition in the Jewish Museum, New York 1967, p. 18
“..Painting never means just never picturing the material things, but it is a psychological function, an expression of how his mind [of the artist] responds to things. So that is quite a difference with: painting is showing the beauty of things. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”
Jan Mankes (1889–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my paintings, the question on whether figures are similar or not is not of any importance, the slightest change of figure or color can create a new painting and it doesn't really matter if a subject is revisited by an artist repeatedly. With enough time in between paintings, an artist can always bring to it something new.”
Guity Novin (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If an artist can't do anymore, then he should just quit; and an artist ought to be able to change his style without feeling bad. I heard that Lichtenstein said he might not be painting comic strips a year of two from now [1963]. I think that would be so great, to be able to change styles. And I think that's what's going to happen; that's going to be the whole new scene.”
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I still think that Boccioni was a great artist and a passionate man. I like El Lissitsky's painting very much. But Mondrian that great merciless artist, is the only one who had nothing left over. The point they all had in common was to be both inside and outside at the same time. A new of likeness!. ..for me to be inside and outside is to be in an unheated studio with broken windows in the winter.”
Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think an artist can fit under a few different categories depending on how much you explore your creativity. It can vary from artist to artist from musician to performer to vocalist. I thrive on creativity. So in the long run I want to be an all around entertainer.”
Christina Aguilera (born 1980) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Christina Aguilera interview to MSN Live Chat 2000 - Compiled by bignoise.com (2000)
“I don't believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there's one thing that's dangerous for an artist, it's precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and the rest of it.”
Federico Fellini (1920–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An artist must pass judgment only on what he understands; his range is limited as that of any other specialist—that's what I keep repeating and insisting upon. Anyone who says that the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with imagery. An artist observes, selects, guesses and synthesizes.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators. I believe that the artist's involvement in the capitalist structure is disadvantageous to the artist and forces him to produce objects in order to live.”
Sol LeWitt (1928–2007) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in: Art Institute of Chicago. Video Data Bank (1992), On Art and Artists. p. 1991
“I feel ever so strongly that an artist must be nourished by his passions and his despairs. These things alter an artist whether for the good or the better or the worse. It must alter him. The feelings of desperation and unhappiness are more useful to an artist than the feeling of contentment, because desperation and unhappiness stretch your whole sensibility.”
Francis Bacon (artist) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Artist Observed: 28 interviews with contemporary artists (1991) by John Gruen, p. 3
“[on becoming an artist] It is my profession, yes [ to be an artist] but a calling.. that a little bit pathetic, a little bit bombastic. I think it was much more natural.. .I Thought – when I was a child – the only method to be not in the world but outside of the world is to be an artist. I feel me outside, yes..”
Anselm Kiefer (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s no diploma in the world that declares you as an artist. It’s not like becoming a doctor or something. You can declare yourself an artist and then figure out how to be an artist.”
Kara Walker (born 1969) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On becoming an artist in “‘There’s No Diploma in the World That Declares You an Artist’: Watch Kara Walker Lay Out Her Advice for Art Students” in artnetnews (2018 Jul 12)
“What the artist says and does, that’s what people pay attention to. People respect an artist who serves as an example. My role as an artist is to educate women about their rights.”
Oumou Sangaré (born 1968) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oumou Sangaré, BOMB Magazine, 1997.
“Living life as an artist is a practice. You can engage in the practice or not. It makes no sense to say you're not good at it. It's like saying, "I'm not good at being a monk." You either live as a monk or not. We tend to think of the artist's work as the output. The artist's real work is a way of being in the world.”
Rick Rubin (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am an artist. I need my space and some times it is difficult for people to understand this truth. For an artist, there is no other option than to be an artist. We don't choose this thing. We are chosen for this thing. I did not choose this. I know people who have tried to reject this vocation, but they are not happy.”
Miriam Alves (born 1952) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: interview in Obsidian (2012-13)
“Being an artist means being myself and using the gifts God has granted me to bring joy into the world. Being an artist is self expression, self love, self indulgence and selflessness at the same time. The vulnerability it takes to openly express yourself for the entire world to hear, love, hate, relate to, or critique is scary at times but that’s what being an artist is all about.”
Baby Tate (rapper) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m trying to see myself through the lens of the former, the myth of the artist, the artist as contributor, the artist as a member of the collective.”
Ja'Tovia Gary (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I definitely know people who are shameless enough to give up basic values. I see this kind of art, and when I see it I feel ashamed. In China they treat art as some form of decoration, a self-indulgence. It is pretending to be art. It looks like art. It sells like art. But it is really a piece of shit.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like nature but not its substitutes. Naturalist art, illusionism, is a substitute for nature. I remember that in arguing with Piet Mondrian [in Paris, 1920's], he opposed art to nature saying that art is artificial and nature is natural. I do not share this opinion. I do not think that nature is in natural opposition to art. Art's origins are natural.”
Jean Arp (1886–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou art none the holier if thou art praised, nor the viler if thou art reproached. Thou art what thou art; and thou canst not be better than God pronounceth thee to be.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only on condition of a radical widening of definitions will it be possible for art and activities related to art [to] provide evidence that art is now the only evolutionary-revolutionary power. Only art is capable of dismantling the repressive effects of a senile social system that continues to totter along the death-line: to dismantle in order to build 'A SOCIAL ORGANISM AS A WORK OF ART'.”
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art.”
Clement Greenberg (1909–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One cannot condemn tendencies in art; one can only condemn works of art. To be categorically against a current art tendency or style means, in effect, to pronounce on works of art not yet created and not yet seen. It means inquiring into the motives of artists instead of into results. Yet we all know — or are supposed to know — that results are all that count in art.”
Clement Greenberg (1909–1994) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wyndham Lewis Against Abstract Art" (1957), p. 164
“Not long ago only a few artistic periods were thought suitable for museums. Then they were joined by exhibitions of Coptic and early Christian art, Greek terracotta's and vases, Persian and Islamic art. But why is Indian, Chinese and Javanese art still classified under ethnology or anthropology? And why is the art of primitive peoples not considered art at all?”
Emil Nolde (1867–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The time of the often criticized art without real subject [l'art pour l'art] and the art without object [ Abstract art ] seems to be over. We are experiencing a new return to the meaningful subject, which the common people can understand”
Fernand Léger (1881–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fernand Léger - The Later Years, catalogue ed. Nicolas Serota, published by the Trustees of the Whitechapel Art gallery, London, Prestel Verlag, 1988, p. 12
“The art of a chair is not its resemblance to art, but is partly its reasonableness, usefulness and scale as a chair. These are proportion, which is visible reasonableness. The art in art is partly the assertion of someone's interest regardless of other considerations. A work of art exists as itself; a chair exists as a chair itself. And the idea of a chair isn't a chair.”
Donald Judd (1928–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 7; Quoted in: "Furniture" at juddfoundation.org, 2014
“I suppose I remain.. ..a believer in Art for Art's sake rather than in Art for the sake of religion, of social justice or of national glory. Nothing is more alien to me than an art which sets out to serve other purposes than those implied in the work of art in itself..”
Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All history is art, because to tell a story is art, whereas to tell a true story is history: thus history is art, but a specification of art, art qualified by a condition (truth) which deprives it of a part of its character but not of all.”
R. G. Collingwood (1889–1943) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: R. G. Collingwood (1925). The Nature and Aims of a Philosophy of History
“Arts have died in Europe, what we see now in the name of art are the pieces of those artists who are already dead. There is no living art. We, as Turkey, should start a lively, fresh understanding of art.”
Adnan Oktar (born 1956) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 23 June 2013.
“Art has a breadth which encompasses all the forms of creativeness, in drama, poetry, dance, fine arts, music, and literature. Art is not the picture you see before you. Pictures are the products of art.”
Harvey Dwight Dash (1924–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Photography basically is not fine arts; I will see it as a kind of applied art, commercial art as it were. Photography is not fine art in any way.”
Kunle Adewale (born 1981) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: https://braveartsafrica.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/art-is-therapeutic-interview-with-fast-rising-nigerian-artist-kunle-adewale/, Bravearts Magazine, 21 October 2014
“Many people affect to believe that science has progressively strangled the arts, or distorted them into some unpleasant “modern” form; and therefore that the arts can be revived only by throwing over science. Often of course this is merely an elderly sentiment in favour of the art of our younger days, and the real scapegoat is not science but change.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Content is nothing but the sum of organized tensions. From this point of view one can discover the basic identity of the rules of composition in all arts – always accepting that the arts can only represent their object materially by means of organised reactions.. ..already today one can safely assume that the roots of laws of composition are the same for art as they are for nature.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from: 'Analysis of the Primary Elements of Painting', W. Kandinsky, 1928
“What life means to me is to put the content of Shelley into the form of Zola. The proletarian writer is a writer with a purpose; he thinks no more of "art for art's sake" than a man on a sinking ship thinks of painting a beautiful picture in the cabin; he thinks of getting ashore — and then there will be time enough for art.”
Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cosmopolitan (October 1906)