Henri Matisse Quotes (48 Quotes)

A distinction is made between painters who work directly from nature and those who work purely from imagination. Personally, I think neither of these methods must be preferred to the exclusion of the other. Both may be used in turn by the same indivi

Aren't you Tahiti Lagoons one of the seven wonders of the Paradise of painters

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.

In love, the one who runs away is the winner.

An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.

Cutting into color reminds me of the sculptor's direct carving.

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

The paper cutouts allow me to draw with color. For me, it is a simplification. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color-with one modifying the other-I draw directly in color...It is not a starting point, it is a completion.

With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.

Work cures everything.

He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.

Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

These images in vivid and violent tones have resulted from crystallization of memories of the circus, popular tales or travel.

I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.

I have been no more than a medium, as it were.

I'm growing old, I delight in the past.

I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.

To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.

Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.

Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.

Creativity takes courage.

Exactitude is not truth.

All that I really have to recount are observations and notes made during the course of my life as a painter. I ask those who will have the patience to read these notes the indulgence usually granted to the writings of painters

I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.

I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.

My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility. Inspired by certain pages of Delacroix, an artist like Signac is preoccupied with complementary colors, and the t

A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn't so much the worse for you.

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.

Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue.

Drawing is putting a line (a)round an idea.

I'd like to introduce my color prints under the most favorable of conditions. For this reason I must separate them by intervals of a different character. I decided that handwriting was best suited for this purpose. The exceptional size of the writing

Those who work in a preconceived style, deliberately turning their backs on nature, miss the truth. An artist must recognize, when he is reasoning, that his picture is an artifice but when he is painting, he should feel that he has copied nature. An

Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.

I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.

In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.

There are wonderful things in real jazz, the talent for improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.

My curves are not crazy.

Jazz is rhythm and meaning.

In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands what one is doing or what one knows, and when there remains an energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled and compressed.

Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.

The only valid thing in art is the one thing that cannot be explained, to explain away the mystery of a great painting would do irreplaceable harm, for whenever you explain or define something you substitute the explanation or the definition for the

It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.

It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.

A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.

The artist must summon all his energy, his sincerity, and the greatest modesty in order to shatter the old cliches that come so easily to hand while working, which can suffocate the little flower that does not come, ever, the way one expects.