Arshile Gorky Quotes

• Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes... Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, Eye, Men

  41 Copy quote

• I seek a form of language which will express my ideas for our time.

  Arshile Gorky

  Ideas, Language, Form

  Diane Waddmann, Arshile Gorky (1981). “Arshile Gorky: 1904-1948, a Retrospective”

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• When something is finished, that means it's dead, doesn't it? I believe in everlastingness. I never finish a painting - I just stop working on it for a while.

  Arshile Gorky

  Believe, Mean, Painting

  Arshile Gorky, Matthew Spender (2009). “Arshile Gorky: goats on the roof : a life in letters and documents”

  18 Copy quote

• The secret is to throw yourself into the water of life again and again, not to hang back, no reservations, risk everything, but above all strike out boldly with all you have.

  Arshile Gorky

  Water Of Life, Risk, Secret

  University of Texas at Austin. University Art Museum, Arshile Gorky (1975). “Arshile Gorky: drawings to paintings”

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• I like painting because it's something I never come to the end of. Sometimes I paint a picture, then I paint it all out. Sometimes I'm working on fifteen or twenty pictures at the same time. I do that because I want to - because I like to change my mind so often. The thing to do is always to keep starting to paint, never finishing painting.

  Arshile Gorky

  Mind, Twenties, Finishing

  Arshile Gorky, Matthew Spender (2009). “Arshile Gorky: goats on the roof : a life in letters and documents”

  18 Copy quote

• Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes.

  Arshile Gorky

  Eye, Men, Mind

  Arshile Gorky (2005). “Նամակներ”

  20 Copy quote

• The eyes of the Armenians speak long before the lips move and long after they cease to.

  Arshile Gorky

  Moving, Eye, Long

  University of Texas at Austin. University Art Museum, Arshile Gorky (1975). “Arshile Gorky: drawings to paintings”

  20 Copy quote

• The stuff of thought is the seed of the artist. Dreams form the bristles of the artist's brush. As the eye functions as the brain's sentry, I communicate my innermost perceptions through the art, my worldview.

  Arshile Gorky

  Dream, Art, Eye

  "Abstract Expressionism" by Barbara Hess (p.10), 2005.

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• I communicate my innermost perceptions through art.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, Perception, Painting

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• Art must always remain earnest... Art must be serious, no sarcasm, comedy. One does not laugh at a loved one.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, Sarcasm, Laughing

  University of Texas at Austin. University Art Museum, Arshile Gorky (1975). “Arshile Gorky: drawings to paintings”

  16 Copy quote

• Movement is the translation of life, and if art depicts life, movement should come into art, since we are only aware of living because it moves.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, Moving, Movement

  Arshile Gorky, Matthew Spender (2009). “Arshile Gorky: goats on the roof : a life in letters and documents”

  14 Copy quote

• Dreams form the bristles of the artist's brush.

  Arshile Gorky

  Dream, Artist, Form

  Arshile Gorky (2005). “Նամակներ”

  13 Copy quote

• I do not paint in front of but from within nature.

  Arshile Gorky

  Paint, Fronts

  Diane Waddmann, Arshile Gorky (1981). “Arshile Gorky: 1904-1948, a Retrospective”

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• We are part of the world creation, and we ourselves create nothing. Our knowledge allows us to make use of all the forces already in existence, our art to interpret emotions already felt. One big war, an epidemic, and we collapse into ignorance and darkness, fit sons of chimpanzees.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, War, Ignorance

  Arshile Gorky, Matthew Spender (2009). “Arshile Gorky: goats on the roof : a life in letters and documents”

  11 Copy quote

• Drawing is the basis of art. A bad painter cannot draw. But one who draws well can always paint.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, Drawing, Sketching

  Melvin P. Lader, Arshile Gorky, Gerald Peters Gallery (1990). “Arshile Gorky: three decades of drawings”

  13 Copy quote

• If a painting of mine suits me, it is right. If it does not please me, I care not if all the great masters should approve it or the dealers buy it. They would be wrong.

  Arshile Gorky

  Please Me, Doe, Would Be

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• My recollections of Armenia open new visions for me. My art is therefore a growth art where forms, pines, shapes, memories of Armenia germinate, breathe, expand and contract, multiply and thereby create new paths for exploration.

  Arshile Gorky

  Art, Memories, Growth

  11 Copy quote

• You know how fussy and particular I am in painting. I am ever removing the paint and repainting the spot until I am completely exhausted.

  Arshile Gorky

  Painting, Exhausted, Spots

  "Movements in art since 1945". Book by Edward Lucie-Smith, p. 15, 1975.

  9 Copy quote

• If Picasso drips, I drip... For a long while I was with Cezanne, and now I am with Picasso.

  Arshile Gorky

  Long, Cezanne, Imitation

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