Impressionism Quotes

• Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Soul, Newspapers

  "Matisse". Book by Pierre Schneider, 1984.

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• For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations.

  Paul Cezanne

  Photography, Art, Creativity

  "Beyond Visual Perspective". Book by Gaetano Curreri-Alibrandi, Yvonne Markowitz (p. 148), 1996.

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• Impressionism means taking inspiration directly from nature, trusting your senses rather than what you think you know.

  Michael McClure

  Inspiration, Mean, Thinking

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• It isn't an easy job to paint oneself - at any rate if it is to be different from a photograph. And you see - this, in my opinion, is the advantage that impressionism possesses over all the other things; it is not banal, and one seeks after a deeper resemblance than the photograph.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Jobs, Different, Opinion

  Vincent van Gogh (2014). “Delphi Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh (Illustrated)”, p.2764, Delphi Classics

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• A good impression is lost so quickly.

  Claude Monet

  Lost, Impression

  Claude Monet (1999). “Monet by himself: paintings, drawings, pastels, letters”

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• It took some time before the public learned that to appreciate an Impressionist painting one has to step back a few yards, and enjoy the miracle of seeing these puzzling patches suddenly fall into one place and come to life before our eyes.

  Ernst Gombrich

  Fall, Eye, Appreciate

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• Drawing is not what you see but what you must make others see.

  Edgar Degas

  Beauty, Dance, Art

  "The shop-talk of Edgar Degas".

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

  Henri Matisse

  Art, Emotional, Feelings

  Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.66, Univ of California Press

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• Impressionism; it is the birth of Light in painting.

  Robert Delaunay

  Light, Painting, Birth

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• The true impressionism is realism. So many people do not observe.

  Childe Hassam

  People, Realism

  Ulrich W. Hiesinger, Childe Hassam, Jordan-Volpe Gallery (1994). “Childe Hassam: American impressionist”, Te Neues Pub Group

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• To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.

  Pierre-Auguste Renoir

  Art, Things In Life, Creating

  "Luncheon of the Boating Party‎". Book by Susan Vreeland, 2007.

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• No, mes amis, impressionism is not charlatanry, nor a formula, nor a school. I should say rather it is the bold resolve to throw all those things overboard.

  Joaquin Sorolla

  School, Overboard, Should

  "Current Literature, Volume 46". Book by Edward Jewitt Wheeler, Current Literature Publishing Company, p. 192, 1909.

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• Impressionism is only direct sensation. All great painters were less or more impressionists. It is mainly a question of instinct, and much simpler than [John Singer] Sargent thinks.

  Claude Monet

  Thinking, Singers, Instinct

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• Art, to me, is the interpretation of the impression which nature makes upon the eye and brain.

  Childe Hassam

  Art, Eye, Brain

  Ulrich W. Hiesinger, Childe Hassam, Jordan-Volpe Gallery (1994). “Childe Hassam: American impressionist”, Te Neues Pub Group

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• Impressionism came about because it suddenly became apparent that pure colours mix in the eye in a more dazzling way than they have ever been mixed in paint.

  Joseph Plaskett

  Eye, Way, Paint

  "Painting by Addition". Essay by Joseph Plaskett, 1994.

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• Art, to me is the interpretation of the impression which nature makes upon the eye and brain. The word 'Impressionism' as applied to art has been abused, and in the general acceptance of the term has become perverted. [...] The true impressionism is realism. So many people do not observe. They take the ready-made axioms laid down by others, and walk blindly in a rut without trying to see for themselves.

  Childe Hassam

  Art, Eye, Acceptance

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• What I am after is the first impression - I want to show all one sees on first entering the room - what my eye takes in at first glance.

  Pierre Bonnard

  Eye, First Impression, Want

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• Impressions are like pearls; ideas are like the string that turns the pearls into a necklace. The string is invisible, but it is not dispensable and cannot be broken.

  Mu Xin

  Ideas, Broken, Necklaces

  Interview with Toming Jun Liu, www.wordswithoutborders.org. August 2003.

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• All inspired painters are impressionists, even though it be true that some impressionists are not inspired.

  Joaquin Sorolla

  Inspired, Being True, Painter

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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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• After 1909, Monet drastically enlarged his brushstrokes, disintegrated his images, and broke through the taming constraints and delicacy of Impressionism for good. Nineteen gnarly paintings, starting in 1909 and carrying through his final seventeen years, finish off the notion that Monet went happily ever after into lily-land.

  Jerry Saltz

  Years, Land, Gnarly

  New York Volume 43, Issues 14-21, New York Magazine Company, p. 1, 2010.

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• The word 'impressionism' as applied to art has been abused, and in the general acceptance of the term has become perverted.

  Childe Hassam

  Art, Acceptance, Term

  Ulrich W. Hiesinger, Childe Hassam, Jordan-Volpe Gallery (1994). “Childe Hassam: American impressionist”, Te Neues Pub Group

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• On the other hand, the artist has much to do in the realm of color construction, which is so little explored and so obscure, and hardly dates back any farther than to the beginning of Impressionism.

  Robert Delaunay

  Artist, Hands, Color

  "Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics". Book by Herschel Browning Chipp, p. 318, 1968.

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• The most authentic Russian Impressionism leaves one perplexed if one compares it with Monet and Pissarro. Here, in the Louvre, before the canvases of Manet, Millet and others, I understood why my alliance with Russia and Russian art did not take root.

  Marc Chagall

  Art, Russia, Roots

  "From Blake to Pollock". Book by Richard Friedenthal, 1963.

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• About 1883 something like a break occurred in my work. I had reached the end of 'impressionism,' and I had come to realize that I did not know how to paint or draw.

  Pierre-Auguste Renoir

  Realizing, Paint, Break

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