The 120 best phrases of painters
Painters are perhaps the most misunderstood people in the art world. Despite the fact that they manage to make pieces that take away our speech or leave us impressed without knowing the reason, we do not always find the meaning or the message that these artists want to capture in the canvas.
For this reason, they become irreverent, unique and somewhat "crazy" artists, focused more on their visualization of the world than on the uncertain opinions of others.
Here we will a review of the most interesting and inspiring phrases of painters, commented.
- Related article: "The 60 best Art phrases"
The most memorable painters phrases
Below you will find a compilation with the best phrases of famous painters and who have formed part of the History of Art, showing us their world, their inspiration and the challenges in creating these parts.
1. A work of art is never finished, it is only abandoned. (Leonardo da Vinci)
All artists have a different opinion on their finished works.
2. The art is to celebrate, sing and bring out beauty. (Balthus)
The maximum form of expression and beauty.
3. A drawing is simply a line that goes for a walk. (Paul Klee)
A picture can tell a story.
4. All painting is a fact: paintings are charged with their own presence. (Andy Warhol)
Each painting has its own personality.
5. It took me four years to paint like Rafael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw as a child. (Picasso)
We can have a role model, but we must always discover our personal essence.
- You may be interested in: "The 80 best phrases of Pablo Picasso"
6. Passion is the bridge that takes you from pain to change. (Frida Kahlo)
Passion is what motivates us to improve.
7. The painter pursues line and color, but his goal is poetry. (Rembrandt)
Each work has a bit of poetry in it.
8. Sometimes you have to spoil the painting a little bit in order to finish it. (Eugène Delacroix)
There are no perfect paintings, only passionate paintings.
9. The painter is the artist who makes the most decisions per minute while he works. (Antonio Saura)
The turmoil in the artist's work.
10. Painting is learned in museums. (Pierre Auguste Renoir)
To learn something, you have to experience it.
11. Art is a line around your thoughts. (Gustav Klimt)
Art as a form of expression of our ideas.
12. Art is what you let out. (Andy Warhol)
A manifestation of what we feel.
13. A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others. (Salvador Dali)
The position of the artist according to Dalí.
14. The artist is like an abuser of everything: of the image, the story, and other people. (Kara Walker)
A thief who projects his treasure onto art.
15. Without atmosphere a painting is nothing. (Rembrandt)
Something is needed to inspire the painter.
16. I want to die painting. (Paul Cezanne)
Dying doing what you love the most.
17. Things are not difficult to do, what is difficult is to put yourself in a position to do them. (Constantin Brancusi)
The first step will always be the most difficult, but the necessary one to take.
18. There is no new art. There are new artists. The new artist has to be completely faithful to himself, be a creator, be able to build his his own foundations directly and alone, without relying on the past or tradition... the formula is his antithesis. (Egon Schiele)
Artists need to evolve over time.
19. I'd rather be the number one painter of common things, than the second of the highest art. (Diego Velazquez)
Not all artists aspire to be at the top of the stage.
20. Art is stronger than nature. (Tiziano Vecellio)
In art you can hide things that are condemnable to the naked eye.
- Related article: "The psychology of creativity and creative thinking"
21. I don't believe in art. I believe in artists. (Marcel Duchamp)
After all, art is made by painters.
22. Art has nothing to do with taste. Art is not there to be tasted. (Max Ernst)
Everyone has their tastes about art.
23. The act of painting is about one heart telling another heart where he found his salvation. (Francisco Goya)
A beautiful way to express the magnitude of art.
24. When you start a painting it is something that is outside of you. When you finish it, it seems that you have installed yourself inside it. (Fernando Botero)
In each painting there is a piece of its author.
25. The art of painting is to lighten and darken tones without decorating them. (Pierre Bonnard)
A sample of reality without necessarily being realistic.
26. The back painter is seventy years old and he charges me half! Well, I'm Toulouse Lautrec, what the fuck! (Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec)
The art world is not always fair.
27. I will accept criticism as a painter that I am, but those will accept that they will not be able to do exactly the same work. (Juan Lobillo)
Each painter has his own unique and personal style.
28. Art is life, life is art. (Wolf Vostell)
Both complement each other perfectly.
29. Art has a nice habit of spoiling all artistic theories. (Marcel Duchamp)
The saying goes well: "to break the rules, you must first know them thoroughly".
30. The truth is found in nature, and I am going to prove it. (Paul Cezanne)
Many paintings are inspired by the diversity of nature.
31. My job is to paint what I see, not what I know. (Joseph Mallord William Turner)
It is the everyday things that attract the attention of artists.
32. What moves men of genius, what inspires his work, are not new ideas, but the obsessive idea that everything he has said is not enough. (Eugene Delacroix)
The feeling of continuing to express ourselves.
33. Once an object has been incorporated into a painting, it has a new destination. (Georges Braque)
Things take on a new meaning within the painting.
34. I declare the independence of the imagination and the right of man to his own madness. (Salvador Dali)
A man who promoted the freedom of imagination and the elimination of limits to create.
35. I put my heart and soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process. (Vincent van Gogh)
A great artist who was carried away by the difficulties of life.
36. I paint because the spirits whisper madly inside my head. (El Greco)
A restless muse that does not leave the mind of the creator.
- You may be interested in: "Emotional management: 10 keys to master your emotions"
37. Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art. (Leonardo da Vinci)
Art is eternal.
38. In painting, as in the other arts, there is no single process, no matter how insignificant, that can be reasonable in a formula. (Auguste Renoir)
There are no written rules to be a good painter.
39. To tell a painter that nature must be captured as it is, is equivalent to telling a pianist that he can sit on the piano. (James Abbott McNeill Whistler)
Each painter expresses his vision of nature.
40. The pleasure of the painter is to discover these holes to cover himself, which does not mean that the areas The dark areas of the pleasure of the text cannot correspond to the dark areas of the illustrator's pleasure. (Antonio Saura)
A pleasure hidden between the canvases.
41. I believe that there is no better artist than the wall painter. What I like the most is when they do the plaster. (Andy Warhol)
Another way of painting and in the process, making art.
42. The position of the artist is humble. It is essentially a channel. (Piet Mondrian)
It is work that he enjoys doing and that comes out of his nature.
43. There is no self-portrait of myself. (Gustav Klimt)
An artist who does not get along with self-portraits.
44. To become truly immortal, a Work of Art must exceed all human limits. (Giorgio de Chirico)
A work that makes a perpetual impression through the years.
45. I am not afraid to make changes, destroy the image, etc. Because painting has a life of its own. (Jackson Pollock)
An artist who knew how to celebrate the spirit of rebellion.
46. It is not necessary to believe in what an artist says, but in what he does. (David Hockney)
It is the works, which in this case speak more than a thousand words.
47. Nature is not only everything that is visible to the eyes... It also includes internal images of the soul. (Edvard Münch)
Remember that the world we see is a lot about how we interpret what we live.
48. Regularity, order, and the desire for perfection destroy the soul. Irregularity is the basis of all art. (Auguste Renoir)
No artist follows the basis of perfection in his works.
49. The drawing is a kind of hypnotism: one looks at the model in such a way that it comes and sits on the paper. (Pablo Picasso)
A moment to lose ourselves and let ourselves be carried away by the imagination on paper.
50. Drawing is not the same as shape, but a way of seeing shape. (Edgar Degas)
Drawing leads to form.
51. Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence. (Henri Matisse)
An interesting opinion on the aim of the drawing.
52. I have a burning desire to perpetuate by means of the brush the most remarkable and heroic actions or scenes of our glorious insurrection against the tyrant of Europe. (Francisco Goya)
Many paintings immortalize famous moments in history, even those that are sought to be hidden.
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53. The painter of primitive nature possesses simplicity, suggestive hieraticism, a bit clumsy and angular naivety. Plasma through simplification, through the synthesis of impressions, which are subordinated to a general idea. (Paul Gauguin)
The painter who is carried away by his instincts.
54. The drawing and the color are not separate at all; while you paint, you draw. The more the color harmonizes, the more exact the drawing becomes. (Paul Cézanne)
The drawing is part of the painting, it is a base of it.
55. Just as Leonardo da Vinci studied human anatomy and dissected bodies, I try to dissect souls. (Edvard Münch)
The painter who wanted to extract the deepest secrets of human souls.
56. Whoever seeks beauty in truth is a thinker, whoever seeks truth in beauty is an artist. (Jose de Diego)
Different ways of looking for beauty.
57. All logic and common sense do is interfere. But once those barriers are broken, he will enter the realm of childhood visions and dreams. (Giorgio de Chirico)
In art, logic does not always fit.
58. Art is knowledge made visible. (Gustave Courbet)
It is the way in which everyone can express what they have learned.
59. When I meet your soul, I will paint your eyes. (Amedeo Modigliani)
The eyes as the window to the soul.
60. I am a true painter to myself. (Antonio Saura)
As an artist, the only one you owe anything to is yourself.
61. The quality of a painter depends on the amount of past that he carries with him. (Pablo Picasso)
Artists who are inspired by their past to create.
62. The artist is the hand that, by means of a certain key, makes the human soul vibrate. (Wassily Kandinsky)
There will always be a work that moves us.
63. Some painters transform the Sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the Sun. (Pablo Picasso)
The enormous capacity for expression in art.
64. A man paints with his brain and not with his hands. (Miguel Angel)
It is the imagination that guides a painter.
65. I am a boat painter. Women are as important to me as boats. And this is the best compliment a harbor painter can give them. I admire them as much as I adore them, but I don't dare to paint them. (Benito Quinquela Martín)
Each one has his own particular muses.
66. The first sketch I made left me in awe. It was really good! Since then he worked confidently and satisfied. (Diego Rivera)
Confidence in ourselves is the most necessary step to succeed.
67. Art is linked to what is not yet created. (Eduardo Chillida)
There is always something new to be discovered.
68. There are very beautiful emotions around us and in art, where they are the most intense, I do not accept mediocrity. There is art, not decorative art. (Le Corbusier)
It is within art where feelings and emotions are most exposed.
69. I was created by Almighty God to fill the universe with my masterpieces. (El Greco)
Showing pride in their unique way of making art.
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70. One eye sees, the other feels. (Paul Klee)
The way in which emotions are transmitted.
71. The simultaneous contrasts are not only a curious optical phenomenon, but they are the very heart of the painting. (Joseph Albers)
The need to place contrasts in the painting.
72. When I have the painting in my hands… (it is) life and me, me and life. (Maurice de Vlaminck)
That indescribable feeling that can only be compared to being alive.
73. Art is primarily a state of mind. (Marc Chagall)
And it is that state that is often manifested in the work.
74. When you draw, you look at something much more intensely. (Henry Moore)
You pay more attention to what you want to express.
75. My painting was changing not only by the moment it happened but also by the different places that I have had to live. (Pérez Celis)
The experiences make us change our points of view and expression.
76. Painting is the lover of beauty and the queen of the arts. (Nicolas Poussin)
It is the favorite setting for beauty to be the protagonist.
77. After all, painting has to be done as one is. (John Gray)
Each painting is personal to its creator.
78. With one eye you look at the outside world, while with the other you look inside yourself. (Amedeo Modigliani)
The art of blending the exterior with the interior.
79. I'm not sick. I am broke. But I am happy as long as I can paint. (Frida Kahlo)
Pain was Kahlo's greatest source of inspiration.
80. Sometimes I think the worst is the current ‘worldliness’ of the entire [art] scene. It's the most deceptive, corrupting, and transitory thing, full of kicking and fun, but so little to do with what it's really about. (Helen Frankenthaler)
A critique of the direction that painting is taking today.
81. Art is rigorous, decorative art is not, it is superficial, boisterous. (Le Corbusier)
Differences within the same art world.
82. He painted as naturally as he breathed, spoke or sweated. (Diego Rivera)
For a painter, it is a necessity to be painting, rather than an obligation.
- Related article: "Emotional psychology: main theories of emotion"
83. There was a first time, very short of trial and error, in which I tried everything, watercolor, pastel, oil, and looked for different themes, I did from mice to landscapes, heads of my companions from the port and naked, until at last I found my world. (Benito Quinquela Martín)
When you don't have a set course, you need to experiment until you find your way.
84. I paint myself because I am the one I know best. (Frida Kahlo)
Frida Kahlo's greatest muse was herself.
85. Art is to comfort all who are broken by life. (Vincent van Gogh)
Art as a way of sympathizing with the lives of others.
86. A good painting does not stop giving of itself. (Georges Braque)
A good painting is one that continues to be remembered.
87. Music and painting are the same, you only have to have the organ to detect them. (Franz Marc)
The heart that guides every art form.
88. I try to apply colors like words shape poems, like notes shape music. (Joan Miro)
The other forms of arts merging into a muse.
89. When you are painting, you don't think. (Rafael)
It is a state of possession that does not end until the work says it is ready.
90. I see art and literature as a possible broadening of horizons towards freedom. (Joan Brossa)
In painting there are no limits, no barriers, no impositions.
91. The role of the "representative arts" - painting, sculpture and even architecture - has ended, as it is no longer necessary for the consciousness of our age, and all that art can offer can be classified simply as a recoil. (Lyubov Popova)
Another criticism about the drastic change in the purpose of the works.
92. Art is a guarantee of sanity. (Louise Bourgeois)
Many artists use their painting as a means of escape and catharsis.
93. The political in the painter is not exclusive of a will of form and style, since as an aesthetic way it denounces the anomalies of an unjust society. (Carlos Cañas)
No painter should have a political position to express the day-to-day life of society.
94. There is no combination of ornaments in nature that the genius painter is unable to reproduce. (René-François-Ghislain Magritte)
The reproducibility of artists.
95. An artist tries to get people closer to things, since art has to do with sharing. (David Hockney)
A reflection on the goal of sharing and unifying that lies behind art.
96. If the doors of perception are cleared, all things appear as they are, that is to say infinite. (William Blake)
In art this happens a lot of breaking down your mental walls and risking experiencing the unknown.
97. The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it surface. (Jackson Pollock)
Letting see the soul that lives in each work.
98. One must from time to time try things that are beyond one's ability. (Auguste Renoir)
It is always good to take risks to find out what else we can do.
99. As long as art lives, I will never have to accept that man is dead. (Giorgio Vasari)
Creative ability is one of the strongest of man.
100. The works must be conceived with fire in the soul, but executed with clinical coldness. (Joan Miro)
An interesting way to create a painting.
101. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration over information. (Man Ray)
That is why many artists seek to express reality in an interpretive way.
102. The viewer must become aware of what is sacred about the painting, so that it is discovered before it as in the church. (Edvard Munch)
Viewers as an essential part of the creative process.
- Related article: "17 curiosities about human perception"
103. The beauty of things exists in the spirit of those who contemplate them. (David Hume)
Everyone has their way of finding beauty in things.
104. A good painter needs only three colors: black, white, and red. (Titian)
Colors that are the basis for his works.
105. You can't be an artist if you don't want to share an experience, a thought. (David Hockney)
Sharing is a purpose that cannot be changed in art.
106. Believing in your own art becomes increasingly difficult as the public response becomes more loving. (Cindy Sherman)
Art leaving aside the creative spirit to satisfy the demands of the commercial world.
107. People ask about art and commercialism. I think if someone tries to sell his work at a high price, that is the wrong way to do it. (Yayoi Kusama)
Reflections on art in the commercial world.
108. Art does not reproduce what is visible but makes visible what is not always visible. (Paul Klee)
A way to shed light on things that are almost always hidden.
109. I hate flowers. I paint them because they are cheaper than the models and they do not move. (Georgia O'Keeffe)
A peculiar source of inspiration.
110. Color is my daily obsession, joy and torment. (Claude Monet)
Color as his forte in painting, but also becoming his obsession.
111. A painting must be painted with the same feeling with which a criminal commits a crime. (Edgar Degas)
A very strange way of comparing passion within art.
112. My painting carries with it the message of pain. (Frida Kahlo)
Pain as the muse who was always by his side.
113. Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing. (Marc Chagall)
There are different ways of loving that are reflected in art.
114. I dream of painting and then I paint my dreams. (Vincent van Gogh)
Dreams as Van Gogh's favorite muse.
115. I paint... like a bird sings. (Claude Monet)
That is, something that arises by itself.
116. The painter has the universe in his mind and in his hands. (Leonardo da Vinci)
There are no limits other than those established by the artist himself.
- You may be interested in: "The best famous quotes of Leonardo da Vinci"
117. The true work of art is but a shadow of divine perfection. (Miguel Ángel Buonarroti)
The divine characterization within art.
118. Good artists copy, great artists steal. (Pablo Picasso)
A sample of the furtive movement within art.
119. One thing became clear to me: that objectivity, the description of the object, was not necessary in my paintings and that it actually hurt them. (Wasily Kandinsky)
Objectivity as the enemy of works of art.
120. I do the impossible because the possible is done by anyone. (Pablo Picasso)
Encourage yourself to do things that only you can do.