Henri Matisse Quotes - Page 6

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• Did not the artists of the great age of Japanese art change names many times during their careers? I like that; they wanted to safeguard their freedom.

  Henri Matisse

  Change, Art, Names

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

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• One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work.

  Henri Matisse

  Work, Creativity, Conscious

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.107, Univ of California Press

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• What I dream of is an art of balance.

  Henri Matisse

  Dream, Art, Balance

  Notes d'un peintre (Notes of a Painter, 1908) in Dominique Fourcade crits et propos sur l'art (1972) p. 30

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• The importance of an artist is to be measured by the quantity of new signs which he has introduced to the language of art.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Language, Importance

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• A rapid rendering of a landscape represents only one moment of its existence. I prefer, by insisting upon its essential character, to risk losing charm in order to gain greater stability.

  Henri Matisse

  Character, Order, Risk

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

  Henri Matisse

  Cutting, Wish, Tongue

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• What matters most to me? To work with my model until I have it enough in me to be able to improvise, to let my hand run free.

  Henri Matisse

  Running, What Matters, Hands

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• A young painter who cannot liberate himself from the influence of past generations is digging his own grave.

  Henri Matisse

  Inspirational, Past, Digging

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• The residuum of another's expression can never be related to one's own feeling.

  Henri Matisse

  Expression, Feelings, Imitation

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.149, Univ of California Press

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• ...I am driven on by an idea that I really only grasp as it grows with the picture.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Ideas, Driven

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.132, Univ of California Press

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• I have always sought to be understood and, while I was taken to task by critics or colleagues, I thought they were right, assuming I had not been clear enough to be understood. This assumption allowed me to work my whole life without hatred and even without bitterness toward criticism, regardless of its source. I counted solely on the clarity of expression of my work to gain my ends. Hatred, rancor, and the spirit of vengeance are useless baggage to the artist. His road is difficult enough for him to cleanse his soul of everything which could make it more so.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Taken, Expression

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• I am curious about color as one would be visiting a new country, because I have never concentrated so closely on color expression. Up to now I have waited at the gates of the temple.

  Henri Matisse

  Country, Expression, Color

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• I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into painting.

  Henri Matisse

  Feelings, Way, Painting

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• Photographs will always be impressive because they show us nature, and all artists will find in them a world of sensations. The photographer must therefore intervene as little as possible, so as not to cause photography to lose the objective charm which it naturally possesses, notwithstanding its defects.

  Henri Matisse

  Photography, Artist, World

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.44, Univ of California Press

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• Precision is not reality

  Henri Matisse

  Reality, Precision

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• 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.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Passion, Reality

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

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• Fit the parts together, one into the other, and build your figure like a carpenter builds a house. Everything must be constructed, composed of parts that make a whole.

  Henri Matisse

  House, Together, Fit

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• If my story were ever to be written truthfully from start to finish, it would amaze everyone.

  Henri Matisse

  Stories, Written, Ifs

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• My models, my human figures, are never like extras in an interior. They are the main theme of my work. I depend absolutely on my model.

  Henri Matisse

  Figures, Theme, Extras

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• For my part I have never avoided the influence of others. I would have considered it cowardice and a lack of sincerity toward myself.

  Henri Matisse

  Influence, Sincerity, Cowardice

  Margrit Hahnloser-Ingold, Henri Matisse (1987). “Matisse, the graphic work”, Rizzoli International Publications

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• I counted solely on the clarity of expression of my work to gain my ends.

  Henri Matisse

  Expression, Gains, Clarity

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

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• 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.

  Henri Matisse

  Mean, Artist, Expression

  "The Christian Science Monitor", quoted by Theodore F. Wolff, March 25, 1985.

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• Color helps to express light, not the physical phenomenon, but the only light that really exists, that in the artist's brain.

  Henri Matisse

  Artist, Light, Color

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.156, Univ of California Press

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• Do remember that one line does nothing; it is only in relation to another that it creates a volume.

  Henri Matisse

  Doe, Lines, One Line

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.48, Univ of California Press

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• From Bonheur de Vivre - I was thirty-five then - to this cut-out - I am eighty-two - I have not changed; not in the way my friends mean who want to compliment me, no matter what, on my good health, but because all this time I have looked for the same things, which I have perhaps realized by different means.

  Henri Matisse

  Mean, Cutting, Two

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

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