Henri Matisse Quotes - Page 5

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Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance.

Henri Matisse

Art, Reality, Resistance

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Cezanne, you see, is a sort of God of painting.

Henri Matisse

Cezanne, Painting, Masters

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

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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

Artist, Color, Choices

"Artists on Art - from the 14th - 20th centuries". Book edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, London, p. 412, 'Notes d'un Peintre' (Notes of a Painter), 1972.

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A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.

Henri Matisse

Art, Real, Light

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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

Art, Mind, Essentials

Henri Matisse, John M. Jacobus (1973). “Henri Matisse”, Harry N Abrams Inc

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I do not repudiate any of my paintings but there isn't one of them that I would not redo differently, if I had it to redo. My destination is always the same but I work out a different route to get there.

Henri Matisse

Work Out, Different, Painting

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I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.

Henri Matisse

Art, Buddhist, Prayer

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The portrait is one of the most curious art forms. It demands special qualities in the artist, and an almost total kinship with the model.

Henri Matisse

Art, Special, Quality

Volkmar Essers, Henri Matisse (1993). “Matisse”, Taschen

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Color, even more than drawing, is a means of liberation.

Henri Matisse

Mean, Color, Drawing

Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.156, Univ of California Press

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Exactitude is not truth.
[Fr., L'exactitude n'est pas la verite.]

Henri Matisse

Truth, Exactitude

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One must, of course, have one's entire experience behind one and not have lost the freshness of instinct.

Henri Matisse

Instinct, Lost, Behinds

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An artist must not feel under any constraint.

Henri Matisse

Freedom, Artist, Feels

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To draw is to make an idea precise. Drawing is the precision of thought.

Henri Matisse

Ideas, Drawing, Precision

Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1973). “Matisse on art”

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There's nothing clinically wrong with me, only an emotional imbalance - I pass too quickly from the wildest enthusiasm to the blackest despair.

Henri Matisse

Emotional, Despair, Enthusiasm

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With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.

Henri Matisse

Art, Color, Energy

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I have simply wished to assert the reasoned and independent feeling of my own individuality within a total knowledge of tradition.

Henri Matisse

Independent, Feelings, Individuality

Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.81, Univ of California Press

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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

Children, Artist, Understanding

Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1973). “Matisse on art”

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Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.

Henri Matisse

Funny, Art, Expression

"The Christian Science Monitor", quoted in the review of "The Drawings of Henri Matisse" exhibit at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art by Theodore F. Wolff, March 25, 1985.

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The residuum of another's expression can never be related to one's own feeling.

Henri Matisse

Expression, Feelings, Imitation

Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.149, Univ of California Press

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After a half-century of hard work and reflection the wall is still there.

Henri Matisse

Wall, Struggle, Hard Work

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When I put a green, it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.

Henri Matisse

Art, Blue, Sky

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I didn't expect to recover from my second operation but since I did, I consider that I'm living on borrowed time. Every day that dawns is a gift to me and I take it in that way. I accept it gratefully without looking beyond it. I completely forget my physical suffering and all the unpleasantness of my present condition and I think only of the joy of seeing the sun rise once more and of being able to work a little bit, even under difficult conditions.

Henri Matisse

Thinking, Joy, Suffering

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I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.

Henri Matisse

Art, Vision, World

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Much of the beauty that arises in art comes from the struggle an artist wages with his limited medium.

Henri Matisse

Art, Struggle, Wages

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One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work.

Henri Matisse

Work, Creativity, Conscious

Henri Matisse, Jack D. Flam (1995). “Matisse on Art”, p.107, Univ of California Press

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Born: December 31, 1869
Died: November 3, 1954
Occupation: Artist
Cite this Page: Citation

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