Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was. It was a fine compliment. Only he didn't know it.”
Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In 'Unframed Space' interview with Berton Roueché, The New Yorker (5 August 1950); as quoted in Martin Gayford and Karen Wright (eds.) The Grove Book of Art Writing: Brilliant Words on Art from Pliny the Elder to Damien…
“Naturally, the result is the thing [in painting] and it doesnvery vibrantt make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.”
Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Moonlight is sculpture; sunlight is painting.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) first seen 1838 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1838
“To a large extent, the problems of poets are the problems of painters, and poets must often turn to the literature of painting for a discussion of their own problems.”
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oil painting and color, said Michelangelo, are for “women and the lazy.” His sharp-edged Apollonian style is the only way to beat back mother nature.”
Camille Paglia (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The secret to so many artists living so long is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they're always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.”
Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Rockwell Portrait : An Intimate Biography (1978) by Donald Walton, p. 251
“Do the identifications with fictions, the inner, tidal motions of pathos and libido which the novel, the film, the painting, the symphony unleash within us somehow immunize us against the humbler, less formed, but actual claims of suffering and of need in our surroundings? Does the cry in the tragic play muffle, even blot out, the cry in the street?”
George Steiner (1929–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But, as sculpture and painting are gifts of God, what I insist on is, that both shall be used purely and lawfully, that gifts which the Lord has bestowed upon us, for His glory and our good, shall not be preposterously abused, nay, shall not be perverted to our destruction.”
John Calvin (1509–1564) said by 1564 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I began to write as a very young person in a rigidly racist and inhibited colonial society, I felt, as many others did, that I existed marginally on the edge of the world of ideas, of imagination and beauty. These, taking shape in poetry and fiction, drama, painting and sculpture, were exclusive to that distant realm known as 'overseas'.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter your manner.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume V, part VIII, chapter III (1860)
“Self-expression is impossible in relation with other men; their self-expression interferes with it. The greatest heights of self-expression in poetry, music, painting – are achieved by men who are supremely alone.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything here is freeEverything but you and meThis painting never driesStupidity tries”
Elliott Smith (1969–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I loved to talk about music to Nicky ... His influence came from people like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and he had these ideas about layering vocals, painting landscapes with music. Roma knew about Irish mythology, told stories, wrote poetry and had this special feeling for lyrics. My grounding came from the classics.”
“My idea of paradise is that period just before the sun rises and I’m at home painting or writing songs and everything is flowing. I pray that the sun won’t rise so I can paint and write for ever. That’s my ideal time.”
Pete Doherty (born 1979) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mail On Sunday, September 2008
“When we read what Goethe says about men we are ashamed of what we have said; when we read what he says about painting and statues we are ashamed of what Goethe has said.”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Painting for me is merely a means of forgetting life. It is a cry in the night. A sob broken off. A strangled laugh.”
Georges Rouault (1871–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Toulouse Lautrec (1960) by by Henri Perruchot, translated by Humphrey Hare; The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, Ohio, p. 51 (PDF format)
“I must try to live austerely, as Plato did.. .I need to live a more solitary life.. .Valuable ideas beyond number miscarry because I have no continuity in my thoughts.. ..The things which we experience for ourselves when we are on our own are stronger by far, and fresher... [his painting 'The Massacre at Chios' was half done when he wrote this note].”
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: autobiographical note in Delacroix' Journal, March 1824; as quoted in Eugene Delacroix – selected letters 1813 – 1863, ed. and translation Jean Stewart, art Works MFA publications, Museum of Fine Art Boston, 2001, p. 9
“I have started work on a modern subject, a scene on the barricades.. .I may not have fought for my country but at least I shall have painted for her.. [quote is referring to his famous painting 'Liberty Leading the People', 1830]”
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in an unpublished letter to Delacroix' brother, 18 October 1830, but mentioned by M. Sérullaz; as quoted in Eugene Delacroix – selected letters 1813 – 1863, ed. and translation Jean Stewart, art Works MFA publicat…
“Painting, in the beginning, was a trade like any other. Some men became picture-makers as others became glaziers or carpenters. Painters painted shields, saddles and banners. The primitive painter was more of a craftsman than we are; he learned his trade superlatively well before he thought of letting himself go. The reverse is true today.”
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) first seen 1857 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 13 January 1857 (p. 339)
“In painting, you have unlimited power. You have the ability to move mountains. You can bend rivers. But when I get home, the only thing I have power over is the garbage.”
Bob Ross (1942–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I started painting as a hobby when I was little. I didn't know I had any talent. I believe talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what I do.”
Bob Ross (1942–1995) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cathy Hainer (October 28, 1993) "PBS' stroke of serenity / Bob Ross brings brush of zen to 'Joy of Painting'", USA Today, p. 3D.
“People have success with this method and it gets them excited. It gets them hooked. You can put layers of thick paint on thin paint and that allows you to complete a painting in one sitting.”
Bob Ross (1942–1995) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mike Flannagan (October 1, 1992) "TV Artist Bob Ross Watches Paint Dry, Turns It Into a Successful Career", The Knoxville News-Sentinel, p. B1.
“Within one hour of touching the brush to canvas for the first time, my students have a total, complete painting.”
Bob Ross (1942–1995) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alessandra Stanley (December 22, 1991) "Television: Bob Ross, the Frugal Gourmet of Painting", The New York Times, Section 2; Page 33; Column 1; Arts & Leisure Desk.
“We don't make mistakes; we just have happy accidents. And that's when you really experience the joy of painting.”
Bob Ross (1942–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am at work on a girl. It is quite simple a girl getting up on the edge of her bed and pulling on her stockings. The bed is whitish, and in addition there are white sheets, a white nightdress, a bedside table with a white cover, white curtains and a blue wall. [as model for his painting 'Morning', 1884]”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in Munch's letter to Olav Paulsen, September 1884; as cited in Edvard Much – behind the scream, w:Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p. 53
“By painting colours and lines and forms seen in a quickened mood I was seeking to make this mood vibrate as a phonograph does.”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) first seen 1898 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In: Diary Saint Cloud, 1898; Munch, as quoted in Edvard Much – behind the scream, Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p. 105
“One sunny spring day I heard the music coming down Karl Johan [street] and it filled me with joy. The spring, the sun, the music, all blended together to make me shiver with pleasure. The music added colour to the colours. I painted the picture [his painting 'Music on Karl Johan'] allowing the colours to reverberate with the rhythm of the music. I painted the colours as I saw them at that moment.”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in 'Livsfrisen tilblivelse', Blomqvist, Oslo 1929, p. 12
“It was the period I think of as the age of the pillow.. .What I wanted to bring out - is that which cannot be measured - I wanted to bring out the tired movement in the eyelids - the lips must look as though they are whispering - she must look as though she is breathing - I want life - what is alive. [on his painting 'The sick Child']”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in 'From my rotting body, flowers shall grow, and I am in them, and that is eternity', Potter P. Emerg Infect Dis, 2011
“Maybe vagueness has been good for me. The word means two different things in Tokyo and Osaka, you know. In Tokyo it means stupidity, but in Osaka they talk about vagueness in a painting and in a game of Go.”
Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In our thought of Empire to-day there is nothing in the nature of flag-wagging or boasting of painting the map red. No! Only a sense of pride in the race from which we spring—a pride which makes us humble in our own eyes, and resolute to make ourselves as worthy as we may of the heritage and responsibilities which are ours.”
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Broadcast from 10 Downing Street, London (24 May 1927), quoted in Our Inheritance (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938), p. 60.
“T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.”
“Try to avoid painting in places where they still point at aeroplanes.”
“People say painting graffiti doesn't change anything, but the GLA committee found that 'house prices can drop by as much as 10% in badly affected areas' so it's worth bearing in mind if you want to get on the property ladder.”
“Getting paranoid is an occupational hazard of illicit street painting, which is good. Your mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity. I'm not interested in looking at things made by people who aren't paranoid, they're not working to their full capacity.”
“I like ironies unless they're real. I was arrested for painting a picture about corruption over a billboard. As a result I spent 40 hours in a cell with the cops taking the piss and telling me lies, followed by a spell of community service and a hefty fine for which I never got a receipt and no record appeared to be kept.”
“In your composer Schönberg's works, you have realized what I, albeit in uncertain form, have so greatly longed for in music. The independent progress through their own destinies, the independent life of the individual voices in your compositions, is exactly what I am trying to find in my painting.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) first seen 1911 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in his letter to Arnold Schönberg, 18 Jan. 1911; as cited in Schonberg and Kandinsky: An Historic Encounter, by Klaus Kropfinger; edited by Konrad Boehmer; published by Routledge (imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa…
“I am working again on my painting 'Moscow' ['Moscow I' ('Москва I'), 1916]. It is slowly taking shape in my imagination. And what was in the realm of wishing is now assuming real forms. What I have been lacking with this idea was depth and richness of sound, very earnest, complex, and easy at the same time.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in his letter to Gabriele Münter, September 4, 1916; as cited in Hans K. Rothel and Jean K. Benjamin, Kandinsky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Volume Two, 1916–1944; Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.…
“Kandinsky, Wassily – painter, printmaker and author – the first painter to base painting on purely pictorial means of expression and abandon objects in his pictures.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of Wassily Kandinsky, 1919 - his self-characterisation in 'Das Kunstblatt', 1919; as cited in 'Klee & Kandinsky', 2015 exhibition text, Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau Munich, 2015-2016
“I thought that the painter had no right to paint so unclearly.. ..(but) the first faint doubt as to the importance of an 'object' as the necessary element in painting.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kandinsky is remembering his experience that he saw one of the 'Haystack' paintings of Monet, for the first time in his life, in Moscow (1895)
“At that time [c. 1904 – 1905] I tried, by means of lines and by distribution of mottled points of colours [in his tempera painting on paper: 'Russian Beauty in a Landscape', 1905] to express the musical spirit of Russia. Other pictures of that period reflected the contradictions and later the eccentricities of Russia.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've started painting much more freely, and faster. I think it's working in the theatre that did it. You know what the Glyndebourne scene-painters said about my The Magic Flute? They said they had to wear sunglasses to paint it.”
David Hockney (1937–2026) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Portrait of the Artist as a Naughty Boy," interview with John Mortimer, In Character (1983) p. 97
“With chemical film, it was possible to alter photographs, but you had to be an expert. That's not true any more. The LA Times fired a photographer at the beginning of the Iraq War for editing two shots together. Photography is crumbling. Certainly it is for the newspapers a bit now, isn't it? There will be painting again, absolutely!”
David Hockney (1937–2026) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Martin Gayford, " 'Photography is crumbling,' " The Telegraph, (18 May 2004)
“There's thieves among us Painting the walls All kinds of lies, and lies I never told it all”
Zooey Deschanel (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I see the possibilities of a new kind of painting. With free surfaces, the goal I was always steering towards.”
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter, 1923; as quoted in Expressionism, ; Praeger Publishers, New York, 1973, p. 52
“I see possibilities for a whole new way of painting, in which planes are used more freely. Weaving and embroidery make this possible.”
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“..how the movement of the passers-by [in his Street scene painting of 191-14] is comprehended in the rhombus of the heads which is twice repeated. In this way life and movement arise from an original geometric form. [Kirchner designed a diagram together with this line in the letter]”
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Karl Hagemann, 27 February 1937; as quoted in Kirchner and the Berlin street, ed. Deborah Wye, Moma, New York, 2008, p. 81 - note 31
“There is much virtue in a window. It is to a human being as a frame is to a painting, as a proscenium to a play, as 'form' to literature. It strongly defines its content.”
Max Beerbohm (1872–1956) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fenestralia", Mainly on the Air (1946), The Atlantic (April 1944)
“I have appointed you [ his friend, the sculptor Francis Chantry ] one of my executors. Will you promise to see me rolled up in it [in Turner's painting 'Carthage'? ('Yes', responded his friend 'and I promise you also that, as soon as you are buried, I will see you taken up and unrolled.'”
J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) first seen 1830 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from Turner's remark, c. 1830's to his friend Chantry; as cited in 'The life of J.M.W. Turner', Volume II, George Walter Thornbury; Hurst and Blackett Publishers, London, 1862, p. 244
“Painting can never show her nose in company with architecture without being snubbed.”
J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) first seen 1840 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote c. 1840; as cited by by Vol. 1, (1860), p. 208; as quoted in The Life of J. M. W. Turner - Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished by His Friends and Fellow Academicians, Walter Thornbury; Cambridge University Pre…
“One question conditions the dynamics and balance of color in the composition of a painting: whence the source of light?”
Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source