I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me. Henri Matisse More Quotes by Henri Matisse More Quotes From Henri Matisse Color, even more than drawing, is a means of liberation. Henri Matisse drawingcolormean A certain color tones you up. It's the concentration of timbres. Henri Matisse timbretonecolor I counted solely on the clarity of expression of my work to gain my ends. Henri Matisse claritygainsexpression Expression is not a matter of passion mirrored on the human face or revealed by a violent gesture. When I paint a picture, its every detail is expressive. Henri Matisse passionexpressionfaces My curves are not crazy. Henri Matisse curvescrazy Arrival = Prison, and the artist must never be a prisoner. Henri Matisse arrivalsprisonart A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn't so much the worse for you. Henri Matisse clawsyoungcharacter 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 cuttingtwomean All that is not useful in a picture is detrimental. A work of art must be harmonious in its entirety; for superfluous details would, in the mind of the beholder, encroach upon the essential elements. Henri Matisse essentialsmindart An artist must not feel under any constraint. Henri Matisse freedomartistfeels I was driven on by.. A force which I see today as something alien to my normal life... so I have been no more than a medium as it were. Henri Matisse normalalienstoday A colourist makes his presence known even in a simple charcoal drawing. Henri Matisse charcoaldrawingsimple The model for me is a touchstone, it is a door which I must break open in order to reach the garden in which I am alone and feel good, even the model exists only for what use I can make of it. Henri Matisse gardendoorsorder The sign for which I forge an image has no value if it doesn't harmonize with other signs, which I must determine in the course of my invention and which are completely peculiar to it. Henri Matisse harmonyinventionpeculiar 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 riskcharacterorder The Barnes Foundation is the only sane place to see art in America. Henri Matisse foundationamericaart A painting in an interior spreads joy around it by the colors, which calm us. Henri Matisse colorjoyart When a painting is finished, it's like a new born child, and the artist himself must have time for understanding. How then do you expect an amateur to understand that which the artist dos not yet comprehend. Henri Matisse understandingartistchildren One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work. Henri Matisse creativityconsciouswork When I eat a tomato I look at it the way anyone else would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently. Henri Matisse tomatoescreativelooks
