Quotes on Art

Long looking at paintings is equivalent to being dropped into a foreign city, where gradually, out of desire and despair, a few key words, then a little syntax make a clearing in the silence. Art... is a foreign city, and we deceive ourselves when we think it familiar... We have to recognize that the language of art, all art, is not our mother-tongue.

Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.

Don't look for obscure formulas or mystery in my work. It is pure joy that I offer you. Look at my sculptures until you see them. Those closest to God have seen them.

Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.

So now, from this mad passion Which made me take art for an idol and a king I have learnt the burden of error that it bore And what misfortune springs from man's desire... The world's frivolities have robbed me of the time That I was given for reflecting upon God.

Any asshole can chase a skirt, art takes discipline.

Charm is the great English blight. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and kills anything it touches. It kills love; it kills art; I greatly fear, my dear Charles, it has killed you.

A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.

Poetry remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art.

Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing - then a work of art may happen.

Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.

Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books - especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.

My contribution to the world is my ability to draw. I will draw as much as I can for as many people as I can for as long as I can.

Art is man's constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.

It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.

Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.

A good sketch is better than a long speech.

An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.