Henri Matisse Quotes

Quotes about:

• Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Inspiration, Waiting

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1973). “Matisse on art”

  133 Copy quote

• Color was not given to us in order that we should imitate Nature. It was given to us so that we can express our emotions.

  Henri Matisse

  Order, Color, Emotion

  106 Copy quote

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

  Henri Matisse

  Positive, Beautiful, Art

  Henri Matisse (1992). “Jazz”, George Braziller

  170 Copy quote

• Another word for creativity is courage.

  Henri Matisse

  Courage, Creativity, Design

  30 Copy quote

• Don't try to be original. Be simple. Be good technically, and if there is something in you, it will come out.

  Henri Matisse

  Simple, Trying, Be Good

  99 Copy quote

• Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit and a love of play.

  Henri Matisse

  Independent, Creativity, Play

  140 Copy quote

• Nothing can be accomplished without love.

  Henri Matisse

  Accomplished, Without Love

  98 Copy quote

• The artists must see all things as if he were seeing them for the first time. All his life he must see as he did when he was a child.

  Henri Matisse

  Children, Artist, Firsts

  84 Copy quote

• Art is an escape from reality.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Reality, Art Is

  39 Copy quote

• Seeing is in itself a creative act which requires effort.

  Henri Matisse

  Effort, Creative, Seeing

  20 Copy quote

• The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer.

  Henri Matisse

  Prayer, Mind, Essentials

  111 Copy quote

• Drawing is putting a line around an idea.

  Henri Matisse

  Ideas, Drawing, Sketching

  91 Copy quote

• Everything that we see in our daily lives is more or less distorted by acquired habits and this is perhaps more evident in an age like ours when cinema posters and magazines present us every day with a flood of ready-made images which are to the eye what prejudices are to the mind. The effort to see things without distortion demands a kind of courage; and this courage is essential to the artist, who has to look at everything as though he were seeing it for the first time.

  Henri Matisse

  Eye, Artist, Effort

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.218, Univ of California Press

  10 Copy quote

• When I paint green, it doesn't mean grass; when I paint blue, it doesn't mean sky.

  Henri Matisse

  Mean, Blue, Color

  80 Copy quote

• I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.

  Henri Matisse

  Queens, Black And White, Color

  43 Copy quote

• If I close my eyes, I see things better than with my eyes open.

  Henri Matisse

  Eye, Ifs

  17 Copy quote

• A certain blue enters your soul

  Henri Matisse

  Blue, Soul, Certain

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.211, Univ of California Press

  73 Copy quote

• Colours have their own distinctive beauty that you have to preserve, just as in music you try to preserve sounds. It is a question of organization, of finding the arrangement that will keep the beauty and freshness of the colour

  Henri Matisse

  Organization, Trying, Sound

  Volkmar Essers, Henri Matisse (1993). “Matisse”, Taschen

  30 Copy quote

• It is my dream to create an art which is filled with balance, purity and calmness, freed from a subject matter that is disconcerting or too attention-seeking. In my paintings, I wish to create a spiritual remedy, similar to a comfortable armchair which provides rest from physical expectation for the spiritually working, the businessman as well as the artist.

  Henri Matisse

  Dream, Spiritual, Art

  75 Copy quote

• Creation begins with vision.

  Henri Matisse

  Vision, Creation

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.217, Univ of California Press

  36 Copy quote

• Seek for the boldest color possible, content is irrelevant.

  Henri Matisse

  Color, Irrelevant

  15 Copy quote

• An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must not feel under any constraint.

  Henri Matisse

  Artist, Discovery, Self

  34 Copy quote

• A certain blue enters your soul. A certain red has an effect on your blood-pressure.

  Henri Matisse

  Blue, Blood, Color

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.211, Univ of California Press

  74 Copy quote

• Beauty comes from the balance between two and three dimensions, between abstraction and representation - I seek the equilibrium behind changing appearances.

  Henri Matisse

  Two, Balance, Three

  25 Copy quote

• Ever since there have been men, man has given himself over to too little joy. That alone, my brothers, is our original sin. I should believe only in a God who understood how to dance.

  Henri Matisse

  God, Faith, Hope

  98 Copy quote

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