I am a Brazilian before I am an architect. I cannot separate the two. Oscar Niemeyer More Quotes by Oscar Niemeyer More Quotes From Oscar Niemeyer It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve - the curve that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the body of the beloved woman. Oscar Niemeyer curves men country My work is not about "form follows function," but "form follows beauty" or, even better, "form follows feminine." Oscar Niemeyer feminine-beauty architect form The architect's role is to fight for a better world, where he can produce an architecture that serves everyone and not just a group of privileged people. Oscar Niemeyer groups fighting people Today, architecture is invention. It isn't enough to just be rational - It must also be beautiful. Oscar Niemeyer architecture beautiful today What attracts me are free and sensual curves. The curves we find in mountains, in the waves of the sea, in the body of the woman we love. Oscar Niemeyer curves sensual sea When you have a large space to conquer, the curve is the natural solution. Oscar Niemeyer curves space art The rule is the worst thing. You just want to break it. Oscar Niemeyer worst break want It was the drawing that led me to architecture, the search for light and astonishing forms. Oscar Niemeyer drawing architecture light Curves are the essence of my work because they are the essence of Brazil, pure and simple. Oscar Niemeyer curves essence simple Life is more important than architecture. Oscar Niemeyer architecture important life-is My architecture is easy to understand. And enjoy. I hope it also is hard to forget. Oscar Niemeyer architecture easy forget Here, then, is what I wanted to tell you of my architecture. I created it with courage and idealism, but also with an awareness of the fact that what is important is life, friends and attempting to make this unjust world a better place in which to live. Oscar Niemeyer bad-ass badass important Camus says in 'The Stranger' that reason is the enemy of imagination. Sometimes you have to put reason aside and make something beautiful. Oscar Niemeyer imagination beautiful enemy My ambition has always been to reduce a building's support to a minimum. The more we diminish supporting structures, the more audacious and important the architecture is. That has been my life's work. Oscar Niemeyer support important ambition Architecture will always express the technical and social progress of the country in which it is carried out. If we wish to give it the human content that it lacks, we must participate in the political struggle. Oscar Niemeyer struggle giving country Humanity needs dreams to be able to survive the miseries of daily existence, even if only for an instant. Oscar Niemeyer humanity dream needs I pick up my pen. It flows. A building appears. There it is. There is nothing more to say. Oscar Niemeyer pens building flow We have to have dreams, even if they never come true. Oscar Niemeyer ifs dream Architecture is invention. Oscar Niemeyer invention architecture I was attracted by the curve — the liberated, sensual curve suggested by the possibilities of new technology yet so often recalled in venerable old baroque churches. Oscar Niemeyer curves technology sensual
