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“A little after I started to do sculpture, I painted some of them, and then I destroyed them all. I've begun again several times. In 1951, I painted a whole series of sculptures. But in painting them, you see what the form lacks. And it's useless to paint over something that you don't believe in. I tried again a month ago. In painting them, the deficiencies of form came through.”
Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alberto Giacometti in: Paul Auster (trans.) "My life is reduced to nothing: David Sylvester talks to Alberto Giacometti about his struggle with proportion and the difficulties of making an eye," theguardian.com, 21 June…
“You can't make a perfect painting. We can see perfection in our minds. But we can't make a perfect painting.”
Agnes Martin (1912–2004) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: interview with Joan Simon, 1995 in Perfection is in the Mind, p. 86; as quoted in A House Divided: American Art Since 1955, Anne M. G. Wagner, Univ. of California Press, 2012, p. 263
“There's no indication or hint about the material world in my painting. No, I don't paint about the world. Everybody else is painting about the world. That's enough.”
Agnes Martin (1912–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fortunately however, is that [painting] school where Mother Nature is placed in the foreground, and where only she is consulted to representate 'truth' on the canvas or panel. Only he knows the secrets of the manifold diversity of nature. His painting is a faithful copy of nature - which is the highest praise for a painter..”
Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803–1862) said by 1862 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Immediately and definitively [after starting a painting] I determine the effect of sunlight, day and shadow, without being concerned with any detail. This enable me to see in the started painting the whole of it, which my mind already saw before I begun to work - I see it appearing on the panel or canvas rather soon and can consider in this way the harmony of the composed objects and colors.”
Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803–1862) said by 1862 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just start, your palette will help you. (if you worried about a painting or dread to start painting”
Johannes Warnardus Bilders (1811–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Maria Bilders-van Bosse, in her letter to A.C. Loffelt, 23 June 1895; from an excerpt of this letter in RKD-Archive, The Hague
“I have finished a fairly large painting, the goat; I sometimes spoke to you about my plan. I believe it has become a real painting, and very complete. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”
Jan Mankes (1889–1920) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of Jan Mankes (1914) in a letter to A.A.M. Pauwels in The Hague; as cited by J.R. de Groot in 'De bekoring van het gewone - Het werk van Jan Mankes', p. 104
“First we look at the hills in the painting, Then we look at the painting in the hills.”
Li Yu (author) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Lin Yutang's My Country and My People (1935), pp. 99 and 248
“I have studied the subject and painted it directly to nature [his painting 'Scheveningen strandgezicht / Scheveningen, beach view'] and I have tried to reproduce that motif simply and unaffectedly, with no desire to make a painting with a lot of 'éclat' [glow]. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”
Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831–1915) first seen 1869 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (original Dutch: citaat van Hendrik Willem Mesdag's brief, in het Nederlands:) Ik heb het onderwerp bestudeerd en geschilderd direct naar de natuur [zijn schilderij 'Schevenings strandgezicht' uit 1869] en ik heb getrac…
“It's not that painting is the medium with which I identify the most. Painting is the medium through which I am able to identify with anything external.”
Brian Clarke (1953–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Theatre is like broad brush painting, where you can go anywhere with your brush. But film is like painting with one of those little, pointy brushes, a stroke here and a stroke there. I love that as well. You have to internalise everything and get it right deep inside. And when you feel you get it right, it’s almost orgasmic! It’s a lovely experience.”
Sylvester McCoy (born 1943) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sylvester McCoy interview: The Hobbit, Doctor Who and more (March 28, 2013)
“The severity of Monsieur Ingres frightened me. I tell you, because he doubted the courage and perseverance of a woman in the field of painting. He wished to impose limits. He would assign to them only the painting of flowers, of fruits, of still lifes, portraits and genre scenes...I quickly understood that I could take no part in that school except to waste my time.”
Marie Bracquemond (1840–1916) first seen 1850 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Becker, Jane R. (2017). "Marie Bracquemond, Impressionist Innovator: Escaping the Fury". In Laurence Madeline (ed.) Women Artists in Paris, 1850-1900. Yale University Press. pp. 55-68. …
“A revolutionary painting is not necessarily a revolting painting.”
Charles Picart Le Doux (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ndebele painting comes from a context of architecture. It is the painting of the house.”
Esther Mahlangu (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My eyes that hurry to see no more are painting, painting Faces of my lost girl. O golden rings, That tap against cheeks of small magnolia leaves, O whitest so soft parchment where My poor divorced lips have written excellent Stanzas of kisses, and will write no more.”
Bilhana (born 1000) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chauraspanchasika, st. 12 (tr. E. Powys Mathers, 1921)
“I have found painting in water media – acrylic demands an absolute control of the medium to achieve the various effects, textures, and transparencies.The scale of the painting is a challenge, but not a limitation for me. To produce on canvas or paper what I have in my mind, my ideas and feelings on the universe, is a great challenge”
Marlene Tseng Yu (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't want to work unless there is some meaning that by painting I can communicate something personal and political. A painting is ambiguous, very sensuous and has to come from your core.”
Alexis Hunter (1948–2014) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Found in Auckland City Art Gallery. (1989). Alexis Hunter: Fears/Dreams/Desires. ISBN 0 86463 167 7.
“Simonides calls painting silent poetry, and poetry speaking painting.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Music and painting should never be literary, a very subtle distinction according to Renoir. As soon as I try to represent an individual, their physiognomy and attitudes, I become a literary artist.”
Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in a notebook, after having visited Renoir; as cited in Berthe Morisot, ed. Delafond and Genet-Bondeville, 1997, p. 54
“Some say it appears that painting has come to an end. I say the problem is that the painters' curiosity has come to an end, and this is more observable in the West and not in the East, since in the East there are plenty of untouched and unexplored spaces that could still inspire an artist as sources of creativity.”
Guity Novin (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of the people who live here [Miami] are island people -- from Cuba, Haiti. People are very vibrant, and color is important living here. You're inspired every day by the sun, the sky, the landscape, the lushness. [Artist Romero Britto's] painting and artwork reflect that.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: www.nytimes.com (February 2, 2007)
“My paintings are always images of my whole psychic makeup. You cannot deny yourself. You ask, am I painting myself? I'd been a swindler if I did otherwise. I'd be denying my existence as an artist. I've been also asked, what do you want to convey? And I say, nothing but my own nature.. .I am nothing but an optimist.”
Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In: Hofmann, in Ashton, (1960's) Twentieth Century Artists on Art, 218
“It is for the artist.. ..in portrait painting to put on canvas something more than the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features.”
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The technical procedures doubtless release energies in the artist that remain unused in the much more lightweight processes of drawing or painting [referring to his printmaking].”
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from Uber Kirchners Graphik, (under his pseudonym ) E. L. Kirchner, Genius 3, Book 2, 1922, 251-63, reprinted by National Gallery, Washington D.C. 2003, p. 226
“In French there is an old expression, 'la patte', meaning the artist's touch, his personal style, his 'paw'. I wanted to get away from la patte and all that retinal painting.”
Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only when the habit of one's consciousness to see in paintings bits of nature, Madonna's and shameless nudes.. ..has disappeared, shall we see a pure painting composition. I have transformed myself into the nullity of forms and pulled myself out of the circle of things, out of the circle-horizon in which the artist and forms of nature are locked.”
Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted in: Marc Chagall, – a Biography, Sidney Alexander, Cassell, London, 1978, p. 178
“..no true artist ends with the style that he expected to have when he began,. ..it is only by giving oneself up completely to the painting medium that one finds oneself and one's own style.”
Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The School of New York, exhibition catalogue, Perls Gallery, 1951; as quoted in the New York School – the painters & sculptors of the fifties, Irving Sandler, Harper & Row Publishers, 1978, p. 46
“A painting is finished when the artist says it is finished.”
Rembrandt (1606–1669) said by 1669 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement attributed to Rembrandt in early biographies, as quoted in The Rise of the Cult of Rembrandt : Reinventing an Old Master in Nineteenth-Century France (2003), by Alison MacQueen. p. 287
“The artist should not only paint what he sees before him, but also what he sees in himself. If, however, he sees nothing within him, then he should also refrain from painting what he sees before him. Otherwise his pictures will be like those folding screens behind which one expects to find only the sick or the dead.”
Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) said by 1840 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from Awe-Struck Witness" in Time magazine (28 October 1974) and in "On the Brink: The Artist and the Seas" by Eldon N. Van Liere in Poetics of the Elements in the Human Condition: The Sea (1985) ed. Anna-Teresa Ty…
“In science he could see nothing useful to mankind. ...He advised the scientist the surgeon the teacher and the artist to go and live as the poor live and try to minister to their actual wants instead of counting up insects chemically analyzing the contents of the Milky Way painting water nymphs and historical pictures writing novels and composing symphonies.”
Robert Hunter (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The advance from drawing to painting should be gradual, and no serious attempts in colour should be made until the student has obtained proficiency in outline and in light and shade. If the artist cannot draws objects in a rather masterly way there is no point in his attempting colour.”
Ogden Rood (1831–1902) first seen 1881 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Students' Text-book of Color; Or, Modern Chromatics, with Applications to Art and Industry. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1881.
“A large vocabulary is like an artist having a big palette of colors. We don't have to use all the colors in a single painting, but it helps to be able to find just the right shade when we need it.”
Anu Garg (born 1967) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Philomath Speaks An Interview with Anu Garg (Dec 15, 2009)
“When you look at a great painting it's like a conversation. It has questions for you. It raises questions in you.. .Being an artist is about discovering things after you've done them. Like Cézanne – after twenty years of that mountain [Mont St. Victoire] he found out what he was doing. If it isn't a process of discovery, it shows. I'm in it for the long haul.”
Kenneth Noland (1924–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Picasso does pure painting he is a great artist. When he paints as an cubist, putting one tone next to another, the arrangement of planes is fine and the result very strong. But those who imitate him achieve nothing worthwhile.”
Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The thought of becoming a painter never as much as occurred to me. I would have laughed out loud if someone had suggested that I choose painting as a career. To be a painter is not a business, no more than to be an artist, lover, racer, dreamer, or prizefighter. It is a gift of Nature, a gift..”
Maurice de Vlaminck (1876–1958) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of De Vlaminck; as cited in Vlaminck, Klaus G. Perls, The Hyperion Press, New York 1941, p. 51
“Cushing, Nathan (17 September 2014). "South African artist painting commissioned murals at VMFA". RVA News. Retrieved 24 March 2025.”
Esther Mahlangu (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The village on the fjord could do with a little gold, and some silks. It would not even object to a few pictures — provided, of course, that the artist had used real gold leaf in painting them!”
Henry Treece (1911–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“..to express himself well, the artist should be hidden.. .The trouble is that if an artist knows he has genius, he's done for. The only salvation is to work like a labourer, and not have delusions of grandeur.”
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in: Raymond Durgnat (1974) Jean Renoir: Raymond Durgnat, p. 370
“Arakawa: The manga artist that I look up to the most is Suiho Tagawa, the author of Norakuro. He is the root of my style as an artist. I also love Rumiko Takahashi and Kinnikuman or Ultimate Muscle by Yudetamago. As far as composition and how to draw, I learned that when I was apprenticed to Hiroyuki Eto, the author of Mahoujin Guru Guru for Shonen GanGan.”
Hiromu Arakawa (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Karen Smith et al. Ai Weiwei (Contemporary Artists (Phaidon), London: Phaidon Press, 2009.
“I’ve never planned any part of my career—except being an artist. And I was pushed into that corner because I thought being an artist was the only way to have a little freedom.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The true artist has no style. Style is an exterior decorative element. The true artist as servant of his matter, transcends it with an absolute freedom.”
Karel Appel (1921–2006) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quote, 1984 - from ATV', 188; p. 49
“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're creators by permission, by grace as it were. No one creates alone, of and by himself. An artist is an instrument that registers something already existent, something which belongs to the whole world, and which, if he is an artist, he is compelled to give back to the world.”
Henry Miller (1891–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel that America is essentially against the artist, that the enemy of America is the artist, because he stands for individuality and creativeness, and that's un-American somehow.”
Henry Miller (1891–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not believe an artist's life throws much light upon his works. I do believe, however, that, more often than most people realize, his works may throw light upon his life. An artist with certain imaginative ideas in his head may then involve himself in relationships which are congenial to them.”
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it. But it is unbecoming in an artist to talk about inspiration; that is the reader's business.”
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are talking about an artist; and for the enjoyment of the artist the mask must be to some extent moulded on the face. What he makes outside him must correspond to something inside him; he can only make his effects out of some of the materials of his soul.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at Amherst College (26 October 1963)
“Every artist's strictly illimitable country is himself.An artist who plays that country false has committed suicide;and even a good lawyer cannot kill the dead. But a human being who's true to himself — whoever himself may be — is immortal;and all the atomic bombs of all the antiartists in spacetime will never civilize immortality.”
E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source