Portal:The arts/Quote archive
Former quotes at Art Wikiportal
2005
- May
Art is the triumph over chaos.
—John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.
—Marc Chagall
I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream.
—Vincent Van Gogh
Most painting in the European tradition was painting the mask. Modern art rejected all that. Our subject matter was the person behind the mask.
—Robert Motherwell
A painting is never finished. It simply stops in an interesting place.
—Paul Gardener
- June
Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.
—Leo Tolstoy, What Is Art? (1897)
"Art is a dream like no other" by alexander anderson 1998-
Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.
—Jean Cocteau
Everywhere in the modern world there is neglect, the need to be recognized, which is not satisfied. Art is a way of recognizing oneself, which is why it will always be modern.
—Louise Bourgeois
If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.
—Edward Hopper
Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.
—Edgar Degas
- July
I hate flowers — I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move.
—Georgia O'Keeffe
Painting is washed up. Who will ever do anything better than that propellor? Tell me, can you do that?
—Marcel Duchamp to Constantin Brancusi at a 1912 exhibition of aviation technology.
If only people knew as much about painting as I do, they would never buy my pictures.
—Sir Edwin Landseer
The people who call my work 'abstract' are imbeciles; that which they call 'abstract' is the purest realism, whose reality is not represented by exterior form but by the idea behind it, the essence of the work.
—Constantin Brancusi
- August
Good painters imitate nature; bad ones spew it up.
—Miguel de Cervantes
- September
Art is skill, that is the first meaning of the word.
—Eric Gill
The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
—Francis Bacon
- December
When I've painted a woman's bottom so that I want to touch it, then the painting is finished.
2006
- January
A good rough test [[of a work of art] is whether we feel that it is reconciling us with life.
- May
| “ | Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples. | ” |
- September
| “ | For me painting is a means through which I find expression of life's joy and fulfillment, and I believe art, more than merely being a means of expression itself, also serves as a medium to help us to make peace with our lives through positive and enthusiastic sentiments and regard for the brighter aspects of our existence, escaping form protest, cynicism and selfishness. | ” |
2007
- July
| “ | "'There has to be something there of your own. You have to struggle to find your own way to give it expression. If it's a fresh thought then it's likely the form will be fresh too. It all comes down to what the artist has to say. It's no good spending your whole life splashing around with paint if you have nothing to splash around about.". | ” |
2008
- August
| “ | The basic material of photographs is not intrinsically beautiful. It's not like ivory or tapestry or bronze or oil on canvas. You're not supposed to look at the thing, you’re supposed to look through it. It's a window. | ” |
| — John Szarkowski | ||
- September
| “ | The art of dancing stands at the source of all the arts that express themselves first in the human person. The art of building, or architecture, is the beginning of all the arts that lie outside the person; and in the end they unite. | ” |
| — Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life (1923) | ||
- October
| “ | [t]he standards of comics include inventiveness, originality, and consistency. The best comics really are great artworks — great by the intrinsic standards of that art form. | ” |
| — David Carrier, The Aesthetics of Comics | ||
- December
| “ | Beauty is at once the ultimate principle and the highest aim of art. | ” |
| — Goethe, The Wisdom of Goethe | ||
2009
- January
| “ | Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances. | ” |
| — Maya Angelou | ||