I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.
Henri MatisseRead
The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of a mindful and spiritual approach to work, akin to prayer.
Henri Matisse suggests that when we engage in our work, we should do so with a mindset that mirrors the reverence and focus associated with prayer. This notion encourages us to approach our creative or professional endeavors with intention, mindfulness, and a deeper connection to our purpose, making the work itself a form of spiritual expression.
Themes
WorkPrayerMindsetCreativityArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at an art gallery opening, one could emphasize the importance of approaching creative work like Matisse suggests.
More from Henri Matisse
All quotes βWhoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue
Henri MatisseRead
Purer colors... have in themselves, independently of the objects they serve to express, a significant action on the feelings of those who look at them.
Henri MatisseRead
It is not enough to place colors, however beautiful, one beside the other; colors must also react on one another. Otherwise, you have cacophony.
Henri MatisseRead
Color, even more than drawing, is a means of liberation.
Henri MatisseRead
Don't try to be original. Be simple. Be good technically, and if there is something in you, it will come out.
Henri MatisseRead
Similar quotes
Music, I think, is best when it honestly explores personal demons, and it stirs around in the silt of the psyche to find out what's really there.
Tom MorelloRead
Man is made to create, from the poet to the potter.
Benjamin DisraeliRead
When they say 'jazz,' I'm thinking of a word called 'the creative process.' It intersects every vein and tributary, avenue, path, that everyone's living. It crosses through there, but it's been contained.
Wayne ShorterRead
My goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.
Michael JacksonRead
I wanted to use what I was, to be what I was born to be - not to have a 'career', but to be that straightforward obvious unmistakable animal, a writer.
Cynthia OzickRead
I suppose all fictional characters, especially in adventure or heroic fiction, at the end of the day are our dreams about ourselves. And sometimes they can be really revealing.
Alan MooreRead