Artist

Explore 195 quotes by Artists

Perspective is the bridle and rudder of painting.

Leonardo da Vinci

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Topic

Painting

Author

Leonardo da Vinci

Source

Journals of Leonardo da Vinci

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Italian

Time

1519 1510s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Italian Manuscripts, Bibliotheque Nationale. 1519, MS 2038, Bib. Nat. 13 r.

Current Citation

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Leonardo da Vinci: Notebooks. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least.

Leonardo da Vinci

Quoted in Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari

More information about this quote

Topic

Success Work Leisure

Speaker

Leonardo da Vinci

Author

Giorgio Vasari

Source

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects

Genre

Biography

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Italian

Time

1568 1560s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Vasari, Giorgio. Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori [The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects]. Vol 2, Florence: Giunti, 1568.

Current Citation

Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the Artists, translated by George Bull. Vol. 1, Penguin Classics, 1988.

Painting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen.

Leonardo da Vinci

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry Painting Art

Author

Leonardo da Vinci

Source

A Treatise on Painting

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Italian

Time

1519 1510s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Da Vinci, Leonard. Tratto della pittura [A Treatise on Painting]. Raffaelo du Fresne, 1651.

Current Citation

Da Vinci, Leonardo. A Treatise on Painting, translated by John Francis Rigaud. Dover Publications, 2005.

This benign nature so provides that over all the world you find something to imitate.

Leonardo da Vinci

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Topic

Art Nature

Author

Leonardo da Vinci

Source

Journals of Leonardo da Vinci

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Italian or Latin

Time

1519 1510s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Da Vinci, Leonardo. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. c. 1519.

Don't get rid of negative emotion, but just use it... Like the salt in your food.

Yoko Ono

More information about this quote

Topic

Artistic process Negative emotions Emotions Motivation

Author

Yoko Ono

Source

Twitter

Medium

Tweet

Language

English

Time

2016 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Yoko Ono [@yokoono]. "Don't get rid of negative emotion, but just use it...like the salt in your food." Twitter, 27 Mar. 2016, 3:12 p.m., twitter.com/yokoono/status/714168108844523520.

Painting and sculpture, hard work and fair dealing have been my ruin and things go continually from bad to worse. It would have been better had I been put to making matches in my youth than to be in such a fret!

Michelangelo

More information about this quote

Topic

Art and money

Author

Michelangelo

Source

Letters of Michelangelo

Medium

Letter

Language

Italian

Time

1542 1540s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Michelangelo. Letter to Luigi del Riccio. Oct./Nov. 1542.

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.

Vincent Van Gogh

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More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Language

Dutch

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. 18 Mar. 1883.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

I don't think you can really put a monetary value on a painting.

Jacob Lawrence

More information about this quote

Topic

Art and money Art

Speaker

Jacob Lawrence

Source

Smithsonian Institution

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Lawrence, Jacob. Interviewed by Carroll Greene. 26 Oct. 1968, New York City, NY, USA.

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

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Topic

Impressionism Art criticism Art

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Language

Dutch

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Nov. 1885.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.

Eugène Delacroix

More information about this quote

Topic

Perfectionism

Author

Eugène Delacroix

Source

Journals of Eugene Delacroix

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Delacroix, Eugène. Journal entry. 14 March 1858.

Current Citation

Delacroix, Eugène. The Journal of Eugène Delacroix: A Selection, translated by Lucy Norton, edited by Hubert Wellington. Phaidon, 1995.

The blue period was not a question of color. It was an inner necessity to paint like that.

Pablo Picasso

More information about this quote

Topic

Artistic expression Self-expression Art

Speaker

Pablo Picasso

Source

Vogue

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Picasso, Pablo. "Picasso." Interviewed by Alexander Liberman. Vogue, 1 Nov. 1956.

The only valid thing in art is that which cannot be explained.

Georges Braque

More information about this quote

Topic

The mysterious Art

Author

Georges Braque

Medium

Interview

Language

Unclear

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Braque, George. Interviewed by John Richardson. New York Graphic Society, 1957.

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web.

Pablo Picasso

More information about this quote

Topic

Borrowing and creativity Creativity Artists

Speaker

Pablo Picasso

Medium

Interview

Language

French

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Picasso, Pablo. "Conversation avec Picasso." Interviewed by Christian Zervos. Cahiers d'Art, 1935.

Everyone repeats themselves.

Rachel Whiteread

More information about this quote

Topic

Originality

Speaker

Rachel Whiteread

Source

The Guardian

Medium

Interview Newspaper

Language

English

Time

2012 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whiteread, Rachel. "Rachel Whiteread: 'I Couldn't Say No. It Felt Right to Do This One.'" Interviewed by Rachel Cooke. Guardian, Jul 7, 2012, www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/07/rachel-whiteread-whitechapel-art-interviewchapel-art-interview.

There are Six Essentials in painting. The first is called spirit; the second, rhythm; the third, thought; the fourth, scenery; the fifth, the brush; and the last is the ink.

Jing Hao

More information about this quote

Topic

Painting Art

Author

Jing Hao

Source

Notes on Brushwork

Language

Chinese

Time

925 920s 10th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ching Hao. Pi-fa-chi [Notes on Brushwork]. c. 925.

Current Citation

Ching Hao. Ching Hao's Pi-fa-chi: A Note on the Art of Brush, translated by Kiyohiko Munakata. Artebus Asiae Publishers, 1974.

A good collaboration produces universal thinking.

Robert Rauschenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Cooperation and collaboration Artistic process Art

Speaker

Robert Rauschenberg

Source

Rauschenberg

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Rauschenberg, Robert. Quoted in Rauschenberg, by Barbara Rose. Vintage Books/Elizabeth Avedon Editions, 1987, p. 85.

I'm only trying to do what I can't do.

Lucian Freud

More information about this quote

Topic

Pushing one's limits Personal growth

Speaker

Lucian Freud

Source

Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Freud, Lucian. Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere. Interviewed by Michael Kimmelman. Random House, 1998, p. 109.

Great art picks up where nature ends.

More information about this quote

Topic

Art

Author

Marc Chagall

Source

Time Magazine

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chagall, Marc. "Painting: Midsummer Night's Dreamer." Time Magazine, 30 Jul. 1965.

One thing that I really like about teaching is that you have to work very hard not to lose the respect of your students.

Tania Bruguera

More information about this quote

Topic

Teachers and students Teaching Education

Speaker

Tania Bruguera

Source

Artslant

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

2013 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bruguera, Tania. Interviewed by Erik Wenzel. Artslant, May 2013, www.artslant.com/global/artists/rackroom/22895-tania-bruguera.

I want anyone tired, worn down, driven to the limits of endurance, to find calm and repose in my painting.

Henri Matisse

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of art Art

Author

Henri Matisse

Language

French

Time

1913 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Matisse, Henri. Quoted in "Henri Matisse." Les Cahiers d'aujourd'hui, written by Marcel Sembat. Paris: George Besson, 1913, no. 4.

Current Citation

Matisse, Henri. Quoted in Matisse the Master, written by Hilary Spurling. Vol. 2, Penguin Classics, 2006.