To paint is to know how to put nothing on canvas, and have it look like something when you stand back. Robert Henri More Quotes by Robert Henri More Quotes From Robert Henri The most vital things in the look of a landscape endure only for a moment. Work should be done from memory; memory of that vital moment. Robert Henri done memories looks Beauty is an intangible thing; can not be fixed on the surface, and the wear and tear of old age on the body cannot defeat it. Nor will a "pretty" face make it, for "pretty" faces are often dull and empty, and beauty is never dull and it fills all spaces. Robert Henri space tears age You form a society: that limits you. Adopt a name, and you've limited yourself again; draw up a constitution and bylaws and you've made a groove, a rut, that hampers your growth. You think you can fix your course and move straight along it. But sometimes the important thing is to strike out sidewise. Robert Henri names moving thinking There are forms that can only be seen when you are near a painting, others only appear when you are far away. Robert Henri far-away painting form Renoir had not only a great interest in human character, in human feeling, but had also a great love for the people he painted. Robert Henri love character people You pass people on the street, some are for you, some are not. Robert Henri streets people If you work from memory, you are most likely to put in your real feeling. Robert Henri real feelings memories The good thing about painting from memory is that so much is forgotten. Robert Henri painting forgotten memories Do not expect pictures to say the expected; some of the best will have surprises for you, which will, at first, shock you. Robert Henri shock surprise firsts There is weakness in pretending to know more than you know or in stating less than you know. Robert Henri pretending weakness knows Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. All the past can help you. Robert Henri helping past fall I am interested in the size of your intention. It is better to overstate the important than to understate it. Robert Henri size intention important Art need not be intended. It comes inevitably as the tree from the root, the branch from the trunk, the blossom from the twig. None of these forget the present in looking backward or forward. They are occupied wholly with the fulfillment of their own existence. Robert Henri roots tree art Beauty is no material thing. Beauty cannot be copied. Beauty is the sensation of pleasure on the mind of the seer. No thing is beautiful. But all things await the sensitive and imaginative mind that may be aroused to pleasurable emotion at sight of them. This is beauty. Robert Henri sight mind beautiful All education must be self-education. Robert Henri self-education self education Self-education only produces expressions of self. Robert Henri expression self education Manet did not do the expected. He was a pioneer. He followed his individual whim. Told the public what he wanted it to know, not the time worn things the public already knew and thought it wanted to hear again. The public was very much offended. Robert Henri pioneers worn individual Through art, mysterious bonds of understanding and of knowledge are established among men. They are the bonds of a great Brotherhood. Those who are of the Brotherhood know each other, and time and space cannot separate them. Robert Henri space men art Each man must take the material that he finds at hand, see that in it there are the big truths of life, the fundamentally big forces, and then express in his art whatever is the cause of his pleasure. Robert Henri expression men art The world will see many fashions of art and most of the world will follow the fashions and make none. These cults - these 'movements' - are absolutely necessary, or at any rate their causes are, for somewhere in their centres are the ones who bear the Idea, the ones who have questioned, 'But what do I think?' and 'How shall I say it best? Robert Henri fashion art thinking
