QuoteProject
I paint the way someone bites his fingernails; for me, painting is a bad habit because I don't know nor can I do anything else.
Pablo Picasso
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote expresses Picasso's view of painting as a compulsive and instinctive act, similar to a bad habit.

In this quote, Pablo Picasso reflects on his relationship with painting, likening it to a bad habit, much like someone who bites their fingernails. He suggests that for him, painting is not merely a skill or talent, but rather an inherent need or compulsion, indicating that he lacks alternative means of expression.

Themes

PaintingArtCompulsionHabitExpression

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used to inspire young artists at an art exhibition.

More from Pablo Picasso

My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.
Pablo PicassoRead
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Pablo PicassoRead
In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.
Pablo PicassoRead
He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
Pablo PicassoRead
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
Pablo PicassoRead
The older you get the stronger the wind gets - and it's always in your face.
Pablo PicassoRead

Similar quotes

I give myself homework when I have an audition. I give myself goals, and that's how I check how I'm doing. It can be something simple like 'listen,' or 'find your feet.' And then afterward it's an assessment, so in a way it's not about booking the job or not. It's about what I learned as an actor about that character.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
Let me explain something about guitar playing. Everyone's got their own character, and that's the thing that's amazed me about guitar playing since the day I first picked it up. Everyone's approach to what can come out of six strings is different from another person, but it's all valid.
Jimmy PageRead
I think of writing as a sculptural medium. You are not building things. You are removing things, chipping away at language to reveal a living form.
Will SelfRead
And it was the idea that you can do a play - like a Shakespeare play, or any well-written play, Arthur Miller, whatever - and say things you could never imagine saying, never imagine thinking in your own life.
James Earl JonesRead
If there is no dance, there is not music.
Tito PuenteRead
Careers don't interest me. The only thing that interests me is continuing to be a poet on one level or another, whether acting or writing or directing.
Sam ShepardRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.