Explore Quotes by Robert Henri

When the motives of artists are profound, when they are at their work as a result of deep consideration, when they believe in the importance of what they are doing, their work creates a stir in the world.

After all, the goal is not making art. It is living a life. Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art.

There is nothing more entertaining than to have a frank talk with yourself. Few do it-frankly. Educating yourself is getting acquainted with yourself.

It is harder to see than it is to express. The whole value of art rests in the artist's ability to see well into what is before him.

To paint is to know how to put nothing on canvas, and have it look like something when you stand back.

Whatever you feel or think your exact state at the exact moment of your brush touching the canvas is in some way registered in that stroke.

The pictures which do not represent an intense interest cannot expect to create an intense interest.

Art cannot be separated from life. It is the expression of the greatest need of which life is capable, and we value art not because of the skilled product, but because of its revelation of a life's experience.

Art appreciation, like love, cannot be done by proxy: It is a very personal affair and is necessary to each individual.

There is only one reason for art in America, and that is that the people of America learn the means of expressing themselves in their own time, and their own land.

Your only hope of satisfying others is in satisfying yourself. I speak of a great satisfaction, not a commercial satisfaction.

What we need is more sense of the wonder of life and less of this business of making a picture.

The more simply you see, the more simply you will render. People see too much, scatteringly.

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.

A GREAT PAINTER will know a great deal about how he did it, but still he will say, “How did I do it?

If a certain activity, such as painting, becomes the habitual mode of expression, it may follow that taking up the painting materials and beginning work with them will act suggestively and so presently evoke a flight into the higher state.

In every human being there is the artist, and whatever his activity, he has an equal chance with any to express the result of his growth and his contact with life. I don't believe any real artist cares whether what he does is 'art' or not. Who, after all, knows what art is?

The work of the art student is no light matter. Few have the courage and stamina to think it through. You have to make up your mind to be alone in many ways. We like sympathy and we like to be in company. It is easier than going it alone. But alone one gets acquainted with himself, grows up and on, not stopping with the crowd. It costs to do this. If you succeed somewhat you may have to pay for it as well as enjoy it all your life.

In great art there is no beginning and end in point of time. All time is comprehended.

An artist must have imagination. An artist who does not use his imagination is a mechanic.

I am always sorry for the Puritan, for he guided his life against desire and against nature. He found what he thought was comfort, for he believed the spirit's safety was in negation, but he has never given the world one minute's joy or produced one symbol of the beautiful order of nature. He sought peace in bondage and his spirit became a prisoner.