A new painting is a unique event, a birth, which enriches the universe as it is grasped by the human mind, by bringing a new form into it. Henri Matisse More Quotes by Henri Matisse More Quotes From Henri Matisse Starting to paint, I felt gloriously free, quiet, and alone. Henri Matisse starting paint quiet A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject-matter. Henri Matisse beholder matter art The things that are acquired consciously permit us to express ourselves unconsciously with a certain richness. Henri Matisse permit intuition certain 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 cowardice sincerity influence I have been no more than a medium, as it were. Henri Matisse mediums has-beens Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue Henri Matisse tongue cutting wish 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 effort eye artist The arts have a development which comes not only from the individual but also from a whole acquired force, the civilization which precedes us. One cannot do just anything. A talented artist cannot do whatever he pleases. If he only used his gifts, he would not exist. We are not the masters of what we produce. It is imposed on us. Henri Matisse development civilization art What's so astonishing about not understanding? There are so many things in art, beginning with art itself, that one doesn't understand. A painter doesn't see everything that he has put in his painting. Henri Matisse painting understanding art Put a colour upon a canvas - it not only colours with that colour the part of the canvas to which the colour has been applied, but it also colours the surrounding space with the complementary. Henri Matisse canvas colour space Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the various elements which the painter uses to express his sentiments. In a picture every separate part will be visible and... everything which has no utility in the picture is for that reason harmful. Henri Matisse elements use art Drawing is of the Spirit and color of the Senses. Henri Matisse drawing color spirit Perhaps I might be satisfied, momentarily, with a work finished at one sitting, but I would soon get bored looking at it; therefore, I prefer to continue working on it so that later I may recognize it as a work of my mind. Henri Matisse finishing bored mind From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves. Henri Matisse color moments hands Composition, the aim of which is expression, alters itself according to the surface to be covered. If I take a sheet of paper of given dimensions, I will jot down a drawing which will have a necessary relation to its format. Henri Matisse dimensions drawing expression Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive; the place occupied by my figures, the empty space around them, the proportions, everything has its share. Henri Matisse glowing passion expression I have to create an object which resembles the tree. The sign for a tree, and not the sign that other artists may have found for the tree. Henri Matisse artist may tree The wall around the window does not create two worlds. Henri Matisse wall doe two My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility. Inspired by certain pages of Delacroix, an artist like Signac is preoccupied with complementary colors, and the theoretical knowledge of them will lead him to use a certain tone in a certain place. But I simply try to put down colors which render my sensation. Henri Matisse color choices artist 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 names art
