Paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.
Robert HenriRead
Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Drawing is about expressing your personal perspective rather than just replicating reality.
This quote by Robert Henri emphasizes the importance of personal interpretation in the act of drawing. Instead of merely copying what is in front of you, true artistry involves capturing your unique feelings and insights about the subject, making the artwork a reflection of your own understanding and experiences.
Themes
DrawingArtExpressionPerspectiveCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
During a community art workshop, to inspire participants to be original in their drawings.
More from Robert Henri
All quotes βKnow 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 HenriRead
The sketch hunter moves through life as he finds it, not passing negligently the things he loves, but stopping to know them, and to note them down in the shorthand of his sketchbook.
Robert HenriRead
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 HenriRead
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.
Robert HenriRead
Do not let the fact that things are not made for you, that conditions are not as they should be stop you. Go on anyway. Everything depends on those who go on anyway.
Robert HenriRead
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The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.
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We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.
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I still get a little nervous before performing. You don't want to forget a lyric; you don't want to make a mistake. I still get butterflies. You can try to judge an audience, but you can only really judge things by the applause.
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I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
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