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Art117 quotes
I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze. — Horace · 23 BCThe most perfect of all works of art is true political freedom. — Friedrich Schiller · 1794The greatness of art, like poetry or music, is that it is totally unnecessary. — Christo · 2011Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy. — Pablo Picasso · 1945Much of modern art is devoted to lowering the threshold of what is terrible. By getting us used to what, formerly, we could not bear to see or hear, because it was too shocking, painful, or embarrassing, art changes morals. — Susan Sontag · 1973In a burning building...I would save a cat before a Rembrandt. — Alberto GiacomettiAll 117 quotes →Nature of art21 quotes
Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. — Andy Warhol · 1975Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man's emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity. — Leo Tolstoy · 1897All art is but imitation of nature. — Seneca · 65Filling a space in a beautiful way. That is what art means to me. — Georgia O'Keeffe · 1977In the Greek cities, it was reckoned profane, that any person should pretend a property in a work of art which belonged to all who could behold it. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1860All profoundly original art looks ugly at first. — Clement Greenberg · 1945All 21 quotes →Purpose of art17 quotes
Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy. — Pablo Picasso · 1945Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man's emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity. — Leo Tolstoy · 1897The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder. — Glenn Gould · 1982I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is. I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street. — Claes Oldenburg · 1961The first virtue of a painting is to be a feast for the eyes. — Eugene Delacroix · 1863Art has always been the raft on to which we climb to save our sanity. — Dorothea Tanning · 2002All 17 quotes →Painting10 quotes
Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy. — Pablo Picasso · 1945Painting isn't an aesthetic operation; it's a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange hostile world and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our terrors as well as our desires. — Pablo Picasso · 1964The first virtue of a painting is to be a feast for the eyes. — Eugene Delacroix · 1863The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. — Jackson Pollock · 1948Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. — Jackson PollockPainting is the best way I've found to get along with myself. — Robert Rauschenberg · 2005All 10 quotes →Power of art8 quotes
Much of modern art is devoted to lowering the threshold of what is terrible. By getting us used to what, formerly, we could not bear to see or hear, because it was too shocking, painful, or embarrassing, art changes morals. — Susan Sontag · 1973Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists, worlds more different one from the other than those which revolve in infinite space, worlds which, centuries after the extinction of the fire from which their light first emanated, whether it is called Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us still each one its special radiance. — Marcel Proust · 1922Art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm... An arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. — Saul Bellow · 1967Take me, I am the drug. — Salvador Dali · 1970Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. — Susan Sontag · 1966It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realize our perfection; through Art, and through Art only, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence. — Oscar Wilde · 1891All 8 quotes →Artist and audience7 quotes
My work is completed by the viewer. — Bridget Riley · 2008Bring the viewer to your side, include him in your thought. He is not a bystander. — Dorothea LangeAny authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience. — Rebecca West · 1957I have a very definite theory-let's call it theory, so that I can be wrong-that a work of art exists only when the spectator has looked at it. — Marcel DuchampThe people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. — Mark RothkoArt is a completed pass. You don't just throw it out into the world-someone has to catch it. — James Turrell · 2013All 7 quotes →Artistic process6 quotes
The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. — Jackson Pollock · 1948My work is completed by the viewer. — Bridget Riley · 2008Inspiration is for amateurs-the rest of us just show up and get to work. — Chuck CloseThe artist must have the patience of water that eats away the rock drop by drop. — Auguste RodinA good collaboration produces universal thinking. — Robert Rauschenberg · 1987I obey Nature, and never do I dare give orders to it. My only ambition is servile fidelity to it. — Auguste Rodin · 1910Artists5 quotes
No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. — Oscar Wilde · 1891To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes. — Akira KurosawaIn art, there are only two types of people: revolutionaries and plagiarists. — Paul Gauguin · 1895The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself, because he is absolutely himself. — Oscar Wilde · 1891The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and... He does it without destroying something else. — John Updike · 1977Self-expression5 quotes
Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1840Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. — Jackson PollockI don't paint out of responsibility. I paint out of need. — Jim Dine · 2010I'm using art as a means of changing myself, as a means of breaking out of a category. — Vito Acconci · 1971The blue period was not a question of color. It was an inner necessity to paint like that. — Pablo Picasso · 1956Art and money4 quotes
It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of Art. — Oscar Wilde · 1891Now the art world has become the art market. — Eric Fischl · 2014The works of art, by being publicly exhibited and offered for sale, are becoming articles of trade, following as such the unreasoning laws of markets and fashion; and public and even private patronage is swayed by their tyrannical influence. — Albert, Prince Consort · 1851I don't think you can really put a monetary value on a painting. — Jacob Lawrence · 1968Art market4 quotes
It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of Art. — Oscar Wilde · 1891I cannot help it that my pictures do not sell. Nevertheless the time will come when people will see that they are worth more than the price of the paint. — Vincent van Gogh · 1888Now the art world has become the art market. — Eric Fischl · 2014The works of art, by being publicly exhibited and offered for sale, are becoming articles of trade, following as such the unreasoning laws of markets and fashion; and public and even private patronage is swayed by their tyrannical influence. — Albert, Prince Consort · 1851Artistic development4 quotes
Instead of looking at things, look between things. — John Baldessari · 2009Draw lines, young man, many lines, from memory or from nature; it is in this way that you will become a good artist. — Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres · 1855The most important tool the artist fashions through constant practice is faith in his ability to produce miracles when they are needed. — Mark RothkoEverybody I have ever known or read about who was really a great artist has worked until they dropped dead. — Arnold Newman · 2009Artistic expression4 quotes
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. — Henry Ward Beecher · 1887Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. — Jackson PollockI don't paint out of responsibility. I paint out of need. — Jim Dine · 2010The blue period was not a question of color. It was an inner necessity to paint like that. — Pablo Picasso · 1956Art as therapy3 quotes
Art has always been the raft on to which we climb to save our sanity. — Dorothea Tanning · 2002Painting is the best way I've found to get along with myself. — Robert Rauschenberg · 2005Throughout the ages, man has conquered tragedy with his ability to create works of art. — Will Barnet · 1964Creativity3 quotes
We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. — Henry James · 1893The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. — Jackson Pollock · 1948Limitations are really good for you. They are a stimulant. If you were told to make a drawing of a tulip using five lines, or using a hundred, you'd have to be more inventive with the five. — David HockneyArt and religion2 quotes
Museums have today become the new churches. — Christian Boltanski · 1997The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. — Mark RothkoArt and science2 quotes
Art is meant to disturb, science reassures. — Georges Braque · 1952Without Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science, we should always worship false gods. — W.H. Auden · 1962Artistic vision2 quotes
No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. — Oscar Wilde · 1891The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself, because he is absolutely himself. — Oscar Wilde · 1891Creation2 quotes
We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. — Henry James · 1893The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and... He does it without destroying something else. — John Updike · 1977Hard work2 quotes
Inspiration is for amateurs-the rest of us just show up and get to work. — Chuck CloseEverybody I have ever known or read about who was really a great artist has worked until they dropped dead. — Arnold Newman · 2009Poetry2 quotes
I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze. — Horace · 23 BCPainting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen. — Leonardo da Vinci · 1519Science2 quotes
Art is meant to disturb, science reassures. — Georges Braque · 1952Without Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science, we should always worship false gods. — W.H. Auden · 1962Self-discovery2 quotes
Art is a way of recognizing oneself, which is why it will always be modern. — Louise BourgeoisPainting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. — Jackson PollockSources of art2 quotes
Art is born of humiliation. — W.H. Auden · 1951What is it about people that since the dawn of time we've wanted to mark our presence so that other people will see it? — Chuck Close · 1998Abstract art1 quote
A product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. — Al Capp · 1963Advertising and marketing1 quote
Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century. — Marshall McLuhan · 1976Art and politics1 quote
The artist must take sides. — Paul Robeson · 1937Art criticism1 quote
The best pictures, and from a technical point of view, the most complete, seen from nearby, are but patches of color next to each other, and only make and effect at a certain distance. — Vincent van Gogh · 1885Art for art's sake1 quote
The greatness of art, like poetry or music, is that it is totally unnecessary. — Christo · 2011Artistic constraints1 quote
Limitations are really good for you. They are a stimulant. If you were told to make a drawing of a tulip using five lines, or using a hundred, you'd have to be more inventive with the five. — David Hockney