Paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.
Robert HenriRead
The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True art is about reaching a heightened state of existence, where creativity naturally flows as a by-product.
This quote by Robert Henri emphasizes that the essence of authentic artistry lies not in the final product but in the deeply fulfilling experience of creating. When an artist reaches a heightened state of being, their creative expression is a natural outcome of this elevated existence, illustrating that the act of creation itself is more significant than the outcome.
Themes
ArtCreationBeingExistenceExpression
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a speech at an art exhibition to highlight the creative process.
More from Robert Henri
All quotes →Know 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
Similar quotes
There's no reason music should be difficult for an audience to understand.
Samuel BarberRead
I think the purpose of a piece of music is significant when it actually lives in somebody else. A composer puts down a code, and a performer can activate the code in somebody else. Once it lives in somebody else, it can live in others as well.
Yo-Yo MaRead
All my work is much more peaceful than I am.
Maya LinRead
If you appear in the 'Atlantic' or 'Harper's' or the 'New Yorker,' by God, you must be a writer, because everybody says so.
Kurt VonnegutRead
You live in my heart where no one sees you but I do. That vision becomes this art.
RumiRead
But the only rhyme he could summon for 'out' was 'sauerkraut,' which lacked poetic glory. He let it go. The right line would come in time. That was the thing about poetry. It crept up through the draws and coulees of the brain.
Annie ProulxRead