A Curated Collection

Wisdom from History's Greatest Artists

Explore verified quotes about art, creativity, and the artistic process from painters, sculptors, writers, and visionaries across centuries.

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160 Quotes
44 Artists
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Browse our complete collection of art quotes. Each quote is marked with its verification status to help you distinguish between confirmed sources and widely-attributed sayings.

Read full quote by Ai Weiwei
"
Everything is art. Everything is politics.
Ai Weiwei
2010s Various interviews
Art and Politics Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Ai Weiwei
"
Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.
Ai Weiwei
2012 Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (documentary)
Art and Life Verified
Source note: From official documentary
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Read full quote by Ai Weiwei
"
Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
Ai Weiwei
2010s Various interviews
Freedom Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Ai Weiwei
"
If you are true to your own nature, then you will definitely contribute to humanity.
Ai Weiwei
2010s Various interviews
Authenticity Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Alberto Giacometti
"
The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.
Alberto Giacometti
1960s Various interviews
Reality Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Alberto Giacometti
"
The more I work, the more I see things differently, that is, everything gains in grandeur every day, becomes more and more unknown, more and more beautiful.
Alberto Giacometti
1947 Letter to Pierre Matisse
Seeing Verified
Source note: Documented correspondence
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Read full quote by Andy Warhol
"
Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.
Andy Warhol
1975 The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again)
Art and Commerce Verified
Source note: Published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
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Read full quote by Andy Warhol
"
If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface; of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it.
Andy Warhol
1967 Interview with Gretchen Berg, Los Angeles Free Press
Surface/Meaning Verified
Source note: Documented interview
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Read full quote by Andy Warhol
"
It's hard to be creative and it's also hard not to think what you do is creative.
Andy Warhol
1963 What Is Pop Art? interview with Gene Swenson, Art News
Creativity Verified
Source note: Art News interview
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Read full quote by Auguste Rodin
"
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
Auguste Rodin
1911 Art: Conversations with Paul Gsell
Experience Verified
Source note: From extensive interviews with Gsell
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Read full quote by Auguste Rodin
"
The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.
Auguste Rodin
1911 Art: Conversations with Paul Gsell
Living Verified
Source note: From Gsell interviews
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Read full quote by Auguste Rodin
"
To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.
Auguste Rodin
1911 Art: Conversations with Paul Gsell
Nature Verified
Source note: From Gsell interviews
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Read full quote by Auguste Rodin
"
True artists are almost the only men who do their work for pleasure.
Auguste Rodin
1911 Art: Conversations with Paul Gsell
Pleasure in Work Verified
Source note: From Gsell interviews
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Read full quote by Austin Kleon
"
Steal like an artist.
Austin Kleon
2012 Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
Creativity Verified
Source note: Title and central thesis of his book
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Read full quote by Banksy
"
Art graffiti is a crime, and should be punished. Commercial graffiti is free speech.
Banksy
2005 Wall and Piece
Graffiti Verified
Source note: From his book (ironic statement)
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Read full quote by Banksy
"
A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.
Banksy
2001 Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
Street Art Verified
Source note: From his early book
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Read full quote by Banksy
"
I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.
Banksy
2005 Wall and Piece
Authority Verified
Source note: From his book
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Read full quote by Banksy
"
Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a cutting knife to it.
Banksy
2005 Wall and Piece
Creativity Verified
Source note: From his book
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Read full quote by Bruce High Quality Foundation
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In the future everyone will be a foundation for fifteen minutes.
Bruce High Quality Foundation
2000s brucehighquality.com
Art World Satire Verified
Source note: Play on Warhol's famous quote
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Read full quote by Claude Monet
"
My only merit lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects.
Claude Monet
June 21, 1926 Letter to Evan Charteris
Impressionism Verified
Source note: Documented correspondence
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Read full quote by David Lynch
"
I had this idea that you drink coffee, you smoke cigarettes, and you paint, and that's it. Maybe girls come into it a little bit, but basically it's the incredible happiness of working and living that life.
David Lynch
2016 David Lynch: The Art Life (documentary)
Art Life Verified
Source note: From official documentary
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Read full quote by David Lynch
"
The idea is the whole thing. If you stay true to the idea, it tells you everything you need to know.
David Lynch
2006 Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
Ideas Verified
Source note: From his book
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Read full quote by David Lynch
"
I started Transcendental Meditation in 1973 and have not missed a single meditation ever since.
David Lynch
2000s Various interviews and writings
Meditation and Creativity Verified
Source note: Frequently stated by Lynch
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Read full quote by Edgar Degas
"
A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy.
Edgar Degas
Degas by Himself: Drawings, Paintings, Writings
Mystery in Art Verified
Source note: Published collection of Degas writings
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Read full quote by Edgar Degas
"
People call me the painter of dancing girls. It has never occurred to them that my chief interest in dancers lies in rendering movement and painting pretty clothes.
Edgar Degas
Comment to Ambroise Vollard
Subject Matter Verified
Source note: From Degas: An Intimate Portrait by Vollard (1927)
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Read full quote by Edvard Munch
"
I can only achieve a small part of what I want. But I will go on and on, as I always do.
Edvard Munch
Various Diaries
Perseverance Verified
Source note: From Munch's personal writings
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Read full quote by Edvard Munch
"
Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.
Edvard Munch
Various Diaries
Nature and Soul Verified
Source note: From Munch's personal writings
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Read full quote by Edvard Munch
"
From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them, and that is eternity.
Edvard Munch
Various Diaries
Death and Eternity Verified
Source note: From Munch's personal writings
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Read full quote by Edvard Munch
"
My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder.
Edvard Munch
Various Diaries
Anxiety Verified
Source note: From Munch's personal writings
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Read full quote by Francis Bacon
"
The one thing I fear is doing a painting that's already been done, or doing a painting that looks like it belongs to what's accepted as 'art.'
Francis Bacon
1966 Interview with David Sylvester
Originality Verified
Source note: From extensive Sylvester interviews
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Read full quote by Francis Bacon
"
The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
Francis Bacon
1966 Interview with David Sylvester
Mystery Verified
Source note: From Sylvester interviews
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Read full quote by Francis Bacon
"
All painting is an accident. But it's also not an accident, because one must select what part of the accident one chooses to preserve.
Francis Bacon
1966 Interview with David Sylvester
Accident in Art Verified
Source note: From Sylvester interviews
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Read full quote by Francis Bacon
"
I would like my pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them, like a snail, leaving a trail of the human presence.
Francis Bacon
1966 Interview with David Sylvester
Human Presence Verified
Source note: From Sylvester interviews
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Read full quote by Frida Kahlo
"
I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.
Frida Kahlo
March 17, 1945 Interview with Antonio Rodriguez, Así magazine
Self-Portrait Verified
Source note: Wikiquote cites original interview
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Read full quote by Frida Kahlo
"
They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.
Frida Kahlo
April 27, 1953 Time Magazine article 'Mexican Autobiography'
Surrealism Verified
Source note: Time Magazine documentation
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Read full quote by Frida Kahlo
"
Feet, what do I need them for If I have wings to fly.
Frida Kahlo
1953 Diary of Frida Kahlo (illustration)
Resilience Verified
Source note: Reproduced in Frida: A Biography by Hayden Herrera (1983)
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Read full quote by Frida Kahlo
"
I hope the exit is joyful and I hope never to return.
Frida Kahlo
1954 Diary of Frida Kahlo
Final Words Verified
Source note: Final diary entry
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Read full quote by Georgia O'Keeffe
"
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum / georgiaokeeffe.org
Expression Verified
Source note: Official O'Keeffe Museum documentation
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Read full quote by Georgia O'Keeffe
"
Filling a space in a beautiful way - that is what art means to me.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Definition of Art Verified
Source note: Official O'Keeffe Museum
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Read full quote by Georgia O'Keeffe
"
The meaning of a word — to me — is not as exact as the meaning of a colour. Colours and shapes make a more definite statement than words.
Georgia O'Keeffe
1976 Some Memories of Drawings (book)
Color/Expression Verified
Source note: Published book by O'Keeffe
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Read full quote by Gustav Klimt
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Art must be free in the fullest sense, free from the spirit of the counting-house, free from the spirit of the sacristy.
Gustav Klimt
1905 Der Kunstrat speech
Freedom in Art Verified
Source note: From documented address
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Read full quote by Henri Matisse
"
Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive.
Henri Matisse
December 25, 1908 Notes d'un Peintre (Notes of a Painter), La Grande Revue
Expression Verified
Source note: Translated by Jack D. Flam in Matisse on Art (1978)
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Read full quote by Henri Matisse
"
I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.
Henri Matisse
1912 Interview with Clara T. MacChesney
Emotion in Art Verified
Source note: Documented in Matisse on Art (1995) ed. Jack D. Flam, p.66
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Read full quote by Henri Matisse
"
There are flowers everywhere for those who want to see them.
Henri Matisse
1947 Jazz (book)
Perception Verified
Source note: Written by Matisse in French in 1947
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Read full quote by Jackson Pollock
"
My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or the floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface.
Jackson Pollock
Winter 1947-48 My Painting, Possibilities magazine
Process Verified
Source note: Published artist statement
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Read full quote by Jackson Pollock
"
Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you.
Jackson Pollock
August 5, 1950 Interview with Berton Roueché, The New Yorker
Abstract Art Verified
Source note: 'Unframed Space' article
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Read full quote by Jackson Pollock
"
Modern art to me is nothing more than the expression of contemporary aims of the age that we're living in.
Jackson Pollock
Summer 1950 Interview with William Wright
Modern Art Verified
Source note: Radio interview
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Read full quote by Jackson Pollock
"
I am nature.
Jackson Pollock
1964 (interview about 1940s) Reported by Lee Krasner to Dorothy Seckler
Identity Verified
Source note: Smithsonian Archives of American Art
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Read full quote by Jackson Pollock
"
Every good painter paints what he is.
Jackson Pollock
1956 Interview with Selden Rodman
Self-Expression Verified
Source note: Documented interview
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Read full quote by Kara Walker
"
The silhouette speaks to the history of the profile portrait, which was used to identify slaves and is connected to the history of physiognomy.
Kara Walker
2000s Various interviews
Silhouette Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Kara Walker
"
I'm trying to figure out how to take on history and make it into something that's alive.
Kara Walker
2000s Various interviews
History Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Kehinde Wiley
"
I stand in front of my paintings the same way I stand in front of the subjects that I paint. I think of the beauty of these people. Even the ugly is beautiful.
Kehinde Wiley
2010s Various interviews
Beauty Verified
Source note: Documented interview
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Read full quote by Kehinde Wiley
"
I'm decolonizing the old master portrait, taking the position of power and putting a person of color in that position.
Kehinde Wiley
2010s Various interviews
Power and Representation Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Kehinde Wiley
"
My work is about the creation of a type of fantasy.
Kehinde Wiley
2010s Various interviews
Fantasy Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Keith Haring
"
Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further.
Keith Haring
Various (1980s) Keith Haring Journals (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Purpose of Art Verified
Source note: From his published journals
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Read full quote by Keith Haring
"
The public needs art, and it is the responsibility of a 'self-proclaimed artist' to realize the public needs art.
Keith Haring
1980s Keith Haring Journals
Art Accessibility Verified
Source note: From journals
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Read full quote by Kurt Vonnegut
"
The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.
Kurt Vonnegut
2005 A Man Without a Country
Purpose of Art Verified
Source note: From his book
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Read full quote by Leonardo da Vinci
"
Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.
Leonardo da Vinci
c. 1490-1519 Trattato della Pittura (Treatise on Painting)
Painting and Poetry Verified
Source note: From his treatise compiled posthumously
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Read full quote by Leonardo da Vinci
"
The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.
Leonardo da Vinci
c. 1490-1519 Trattato della Pittura (Treatise on Painting)
Painting Verified
Source note: From his treatise
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Read full quote by Leonardo da Vinci
"
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
Leonardo da Vinci
c. 1490s Notebooks
Learning Verified
Source note: From his personal notebooks
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Read full quote by Leonardo da Vinci
"
The sculptor represents the forms of nature's bodies with less effort than the painter, but the painter represents the grace of these natural bodies with infinitely greater effort.
Leonardo da Vinci
c. 1490-1519 Trattato della Pittura
Sculpture vs Painting Verified
Source note: Part of the paragone debate
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Read full quote by Louise Bourgeois
"
Art is a guaranty of sanity. That is the most important thing I have said.
Louise Bourgeois
Various Diary entry
Art and Sanity Verified
Source note: From her personal writings
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Read full quote by Louise Bourgeois
"
I am not what I am, I am what I do with my hands.
Louise Bourgeois
1990s Various interviews
Identity Verified
Source note: Documented interview
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Read full quote by Louise Bourgeois
"
The subject of pain is the business I am in.
Louise Bourgeois
1990s Various interviews
Pain Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Louise Bourgeois
"
You are born alone. You die alone. The value of the space in between is trust and love.
Louise Bourgeois
1990s Various interviews
Life Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Louise Bourgeois
"
To be an artist is a guarantee to your fellow humans that the wear and tear of living will not let you become a murderer.
Louise Bourgeois
1990s Various interviews
Being an Artist Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Marcel Duchamp
"
Everything in life is art.
Marcel Duchamp
1968 Newsweek magazine, Dada/Surrealism show at MoMA
Definition of Art Verified
Source note: Quote from 81-year-old Duchamp
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Read full quote by Marcel Duchamp
"
I was interested in ideas - not merely in visual products. I wanted to put painting once again at the service of the mind.
Marcel Duchamp
Artist's Voice by Kuh
Conceptual Art Verified
Source note: Documented interview
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Read full quote by Marcel Duchamp
"
Art is not about the artwork. It is about the viewer.
Marcel Duchamp
1957 Creative Act lecture, Houston
Viewer Verified
Source note: From documented lecture
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Read full quote by Marcel Duchamp
"
I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.
Marcel Duchamp
1967 Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp by Pierre Cabanne
Contradiction Verified
Source note: From published interviews
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Read full quote by Marina Abramovic
"
In my work I deal with the drama of existing. In my work there is no happy ending.
Marina Abramovic
2010s Various interviews
Existence Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Marina Abramovic
"
An artist should not lie to himself or to others.
Marina Abramovic
2010s Various interviews
Truth Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Marina Abramovic
"
The hardest thing is to do something which is close to nothing.
Marina Abramovic
2012 The Artist Is Present (documentary)
Minimalism Verified
Source note: From official documentary
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Read full quote by Mark Rothko
"
I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions.
Mark Rothko
1950s Various interviews
Emotion Verified
Source note: Documented interview statement
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Read full quote by Mark Rothko
"
If you are only moved by color relationships, you are missing the point. I am interested in expressing the big emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom.
Mark Rothko
1950s Various interviews
Emotion Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Mark Rothko
"
The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.
Mark Rothko
1957 Selden Rodman, Conversations with Artists
Spiritual Art Verified
Source note: Published in Rodman's book
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Read full quote by Mary Cassatt
"
I think that I shall see something new in painting before I die.
Mary Cassatt
1903 Letter to Louisine Havemeyer
Innovation Verified
Source note: Documented correspondence
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Read full quote by Mary Cassatt
"
I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art. It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.
Mary Cassatt
On seeing Degas pastels in a gallery window
Influence Verified
Source note: Speaking of Edgar Degas
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Read full quote by Michelangelo
"
It is necessary to keep one's compass in one's eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges.
Michelangelo
16th century Quoted by Giorgio Vasari
Technique Verified
Source note: Vasari's Lives of the Artists
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Read full quote by Michelangelo
"
Read my heart for 'the quill cannot express good will.'
Michelangelo
January 1, 1533 Letter to Tommaso dei Cavalieri
Friendship Verified
Source note: Documented correspondence
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Read full quote by Oprah Winfrey
"
I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly.
Oprah Winfrey
2000s Various interviews
Fearlessness Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Oscar Wilde
"
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.
Oscar Wilde
March 1, 1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Preface, The Fortnightly Review
Purpose of Art Verified
Source note: Original publication documented
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Read full quote by Oscar Wilde
"
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
Oscar Wilde
1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Preface
Morality and Art Verified
Source note: Novel preface
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Read full quote by Oscar Wilde
"
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.
Oscar Wilde
1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Preface
Surface and Symbol Verified
Source note: Novel preface
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Read full quote by Oscar Wilde
"
All art is quite useless.
Oscar Wilde
1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Preface
Purpose of Art Verified
Source note: Novel preface; Wilde later elaborated in letter to Bernulf Clegg (1890)
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Read full quote by Oscar Wilde
"
Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.
Oscar Wilde
1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray
Portraiture Verified
Source note: From the novel
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Read full quote by Paul Cezanne
"
A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
1905 Letter to Emile Bernard
Emotion Verified
Source note: Documented correspondence
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Read full quote by Paul Cezanne
"
Treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, everything in proper perspective.
Paul Cezanne
April 15, 1904 Letter to Emile Bernard
Form Verified
Source note: Famous letter that influenced Cubism
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Read full quote by Paul Klee
"
Color possesses me. I don't have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour: Color and I are one. I am a painter.
Paul Klee
1914 Diary entry, Tunisia
Color Verified
Source note: Documented diary entry
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Read full quote by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"
I have a horror of the word 'flesh,' which has become so shopworn. Why not 'meat' while they're about it? What I like is skin, a young girl's skin that is pink and shows that she has a good circulation.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
1962 Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir
Painting the Body Verified
Source note: Recorded by his son Jean Renoir
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Read full quote by Rembrandt van Rijn
"
A painting is not made to be sniffed.
Rembrandt van Rijn
January 27 (year unclear) Letter to Constantijn Huygens, Amsterdam
Viewing Art Verified
Source note: Documented correspondence
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Read full quote by Salvador Dalí
"
Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.
Salvador Dalí
1942 The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (autobiography)
Surrealism Verified
Source note: From his autobiography
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Read full quote by Salvador Dalí
"
I don't take drugs, I am the drug.
Salvador Dalí
1982 Interview with Paloma Chamorro, Madrid
Identity Verified
Source note: Spanish TV interview
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Read full quote by Salvador Dalí
"
Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.
Salvador Dalí
1971 Salvador Dalí: Master of Surrealism and Modern Art by George Cevasco
Drawing Verified
Source note: Academic source
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Read full quote by Vincent van Gogh
"
If something in you yourself says 'you aren't a painter' — IT'S THEN THAT YOU SHOULD PAINT, old chap, and that voice will be silenced too, but precisely because of that.
Vincent van Gogh
October 28, 1883 Letter to Theo van Gogh, Nieuw-Amsterdam
Encouragement Verified
Source note: From the Van Gogh Letters archive at vangoghletters.org
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Read full quote by Vincent van Gogh
"
I long so much to make beautiful things. But beautiful things require effort—and disappointment and perseverance.
Vincent van Gogh
September 9, 1882 Letter to Theo van Gogh, The Hague
Creative Process Verified
Source note: Van Gogh Museum authenticated letters
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Read full quote by Vincent van Gogh
"
One can speak poetry just by arranging colors well, just as one can say comforting things in music.
Vincent van Gogh
November 12, 1888 Letter to Theo van Gogh, Arles
Color/Expression Verified
Source note: Van Gogh Letters archive
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Read full quote by Vincent van Gogh
"
Cobalt is a divine color and there is nothing as fine for putting an atmosphere round things.
Vincent van Gogh
December 28, 1885 Letter to Theo van Gogh
Color Theory Verified
Source note: Van Gogh Letters archive
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Read full quote by Wassily Kandinsky
"
Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.
Wassily Kandinsky
1911 Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Color Theory Verified
Source note: Seminal art theory text
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Read full quote by Wassily Kandinsky
"
Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays.
Wassily Kandinsky
1911 Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Color Theory Verified
Source note: From the treatise
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Read full quote by Wassily Kandinsky
"
Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions.
Wassily Kandinsky
1911 Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Art and Time Verified
Source note: Opening of the treatise
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Read full quote by Wassily Kandinsky
"
The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning.
Wassily Kandinsky
1911 Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Form and Meaning Verified
Source note: From the treatise
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Read full quote by Willem de Kooning
"
I'm not interested in 'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, image, form, color, or layout. I'm interested in all of them.
Willem de Kooning
1951 What Abstract Art Means to Me, Museum of Modern Art
Abstract Art Verified
Source note: MoMA symposium speech
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Read full quote by Willem de Kooning
"
Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash. It's very tiny - very tiny, content.
Willem de Kooning
1963 Interview with David Sylvester
Content Verified
Source note: BBC interview
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Read full quote by Willem de Kooning
"
Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure. I always seem to be wrapped in the melodrama of vulgarity.
Willem de Kooning
1951 What Abstract Art Means to Me
Art's Effect Verified
Source note: MoMA symposium speech
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Read full quote by Yayoi Kusama
"
Our life is our art. Our art is our life.
Yayoi Kusama
2011 Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama
Art and Life Verified
Source note: From her autobiography
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Read full quote by Yayoi Kusama
"
I, Kusama, am the modern Alice in Wonderland.
Yayoi Kusama
2000s Various interviews
Identity Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Yayoi Kusama
"
With just one polka dot, nothing can be achieved. In the universe, there is the sun, the moon, the earth, and hundreds of millions of stars. All of us live in the unfathomable mystery and infinitude of the universe.
Yayoi Kusama
2000s Various interviews and writings
Polka Dots Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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"
I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art.
Yayoi Kusama
2011 Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama
Art as Therapy Verified
Source note: From her autobiography
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Read full quote by Yoko Ono
"
It seems more powerful to add than to take away.
Yoko Ono
1960s onwards Various interviews
Addition Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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"
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
Yoko Ono
1964 Grapefruit (book)
Dreams Verified
Source note: From her instruction book
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"
Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.
Yoko Ono
1981 Season of Glass
Seasons Verified
Source note: From album liner notes
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"
The regret of my life is that I have not said 'I love you' often enough.
Yoko Ono
1980s Various interviews
Love Verified
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Auguste Rodin
"
I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.
Auguste Rodin
Various attributions
Sculpture Attributed
Source note: Often attributed to Rodin, echoes Michelangelo
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Read full quote by Banksy
"
Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.
Banksy
Various attributions
Purpose of Art Attributed
Source note: Often attributed to Banksy; similar quote by Cesar A. Cruz exists
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Read full quote by David Lynch
"
Negativity is the enemy of creativity.
David Lynch
Various interviews
Creativity Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Edgar Degas
"
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
Edgar Degas
Various attributions
Perception Attributed
Source note: One of most famous Degas quotes, specific source unclear
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Read full quote by Edgar Degas
"
No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.
Edgar Degas
Various attributions
Process Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Edgar Degas
"
A picture is first of all a product of the imagination of the artist; it must never be a copy.
Edgar Degas
Various attributions
Imagination Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Edgar Degas
"
I should like to be famous and unknown.
Edgar Degas
Various attributions
Fame Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Georgia O'Keeffe
"
I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Denver Art Museum
Courage Attributed
Source note: Cited by Denver Art Museum
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Read full quote by Georgia O'Keeffe
"
To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Various attributions
Courage Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited but specific source unclear
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Read full quote by Gustav Klimt
"
All art is erotic.
Gustav Klimt
Various attributions
Eroticism Attributed
Source note: Commonly attributed, reflects his artistic philosophy
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Read full quote by Gustav Klimt
"
I am not interesting. I am a painter who paints every day from morning till night.
Gustav Klimt
Various attributions
Artist's Life Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by H.R. Giger
"
Some people would say my paintings show a future world and maybe they do, but I paint from reality. I put several things and ideas together, and perhaps, when I have finished, it could show the future.
H.R. Giger
Various interviews
Reality/Future Attributed
Source note: Interview quote
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Read full quote by H.R. Giger
"
Sometimes people only see horrible, terrible things in my paintings. I tell them to look again, and they may see two elements in my paintings – the horrible things and the nice things.
H.R. Giger
Various interviews
Perception Attributed
Source note: Interview quote
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Read full quote by H.R. Giger
"
You get talent when you discover the ground of your pain.
H.R. Giger
Various attributions
Talent/Pain Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Henri Matisse
"
Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.
Henri Matisse
Various attributions
Creative Process Attributed
Source note: Commonly attributed, specific source unclear
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Read full quote by Jackson Pollock
"
The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.
Jackson Pollock
Various attributions
Process Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Jean-Michel Basquiat
"
I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1980s Various interviews
Art and Life Attributed
Source note: Documented in Basquiat-isms (Princeton UP)
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Read full quote by Jean-Michel Basquiat
"
I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1980s Various interviews
Technique Attributed
Source note: Reflects his documented artistic practice
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Read full quote by Jean-Michel Basquiat
"
I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1980s Various interviews
Art Criticism Attributed
Source note: Documented in interviews
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Read full quote by Jean-Michel Basquiat
"
I am not a black artist, I am an artist.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1980s Various interviews
Identity Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited interview quote
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Read full quote by Jean-Michel Basquiat
"
The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realized that I didn't see many paintings with black people in them.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1980s Various interviews
Representation Attributed
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Keith Haring
"
Art is for everybody.
Keith Haring
1980s Various attributions
Art Accessibility Attributed
Source note: Aligns with documented Haring philosophy
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Read full quote by Keith Haring
"
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.
Keith Haring
Late 1980s Various attributions
Artist's Mission Attributed
Source note: Reflects his documented beliefs
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Read full quote by Leonardo da Vinci
"
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci
Various attributions
Simplicity Verified
Source note: No verified original source; became Apple marketing slogan
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Read full quote by Marcel Duchamp
"
I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.
Marcel Duchamp
Various attributions
Artists vs Art Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Marcel Duchamp
"
The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world.
Marcel Duchamp
Various attributions
Viewer's Role Attributed
Source note: Aligns with Duchamp's documented philosophy
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Read full quote by Mark Rothko
"
A painting is not a picture of an experience, but is the experience.
Mark Rothko
Various attributions
Experience Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Mary Cassatt
"
I have not done what I wanted to, but I tried to make a good fight.
Mary Cassatt
Various attributions
Perseverance Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Pablo Picasso
"
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso
1976 Time Magazine (earliest known attribution)
Creativity Verified
Source note: Quote Investigator found no verified source. Picasso died in 1973.
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Read full quote by Pablo Picasso
"
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
Pablo Picasso
Various attributions
Purpose of Art Verified
Source note: No verified original source located
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Read full quote by Paul Cezanne
"
I could paint for a hundred years, a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing.
Paul Cezanne
Various attributions
Learning Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Paul Cezanne
"
The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.
Paul Cezanne
Various attributions
Observation Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Paul Cezanne
"
When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God-made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.
Paul Cezanne
Various attributions
Judging Art Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited
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Read full quote by Paul Klee
"
Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.
Paul Klee
Various attributions
Perception Attributed
Source note: One of most famous Klee quotes
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Read full quote by Paul Klee
"
A line is a dot that went for a walk.
Paul Klee
Various attributions
Drawing Attributed
Source note: Famous aphorism
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Read full quote by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"
Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Various attributions
Beauty Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited, aligns with his documented views
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Read full quote by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"
The pain passes, but the beauty remains.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Various attributions
Perseverance Attributed
Source note: Said regarding painting with arthritis
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Read full quote by Salvador Dalí
"
The fact that I myself, at the moment of painting, do not understand my own pictures, does not mean that these pictures have no meaning.
Salvador Dalí
Various attributions
Meaning in Art Attributed
Source note: Aligns with documented Dalí philosophy
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Read full quote by Salvador Dalí
"
Begin by learning to draw and paint like the old masters. After that, you can do as you like; everyone will respect you.
Salvador Dalí
Various attributions
Technique Attributed
Source note: Commonly cited, aligns with Dalí's known views
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Read full quote by Willem de Kooning
"
The more I paint, the more I like everything.
Willem de Kooning
1960s Various interviews
Painting Attributed
Source note: Documented statement
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Read full quote by Zdzisław Beksiński
"
I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Interviews
Dreams/Process Attributed
Source note: From his 'fantastic period'
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Read full quote by Zdzisław Beksiński
"
Interpretation is imposed by others. Paintings are to be admired or contemplated, admired without asking what it means. If I had something to say, I would write it down or say it. I don't need painting for that.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Interviews
Meaning Attributed
Source note: Documented interview statements
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Read full quote by Zdzisław Beksiński
"
Meaning is meaningless to me. I do not care for symbolism and I paint what I paint without meditating on a story.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Interviews
Symbolism Attributed
Source note: Documented interview
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Featured

Artists in Collection

Ai Weiwei

4 quotes 4 verified

Alberto Giacometti

2 quotes 2 verified

Andy Warhol

3 quotes 3 verified

Auguste Rodin

5 quotes 4 verified

Austin Kleon

1 quote 1 verified

Banksy

5 quotes 4 verified

Bruce High Quality Foundation

3 quotes 3 verified

Claude Monet

1 quote 1 verified

David Lynch

4 quotes 3 verified

Edgar Degas

6 quotes 2 verified

Edvard Munch

4 quotes 4 verified

Francis Bacon

4 quotes 4 verified

Frida Kahlo

4 quotes 4 verified

Georgia O'Keeffe

5 quotes 3 verified

Gustav Klimt

3 quotes 1 verified

H.R. Giger

3 quotes

Henri Matisse

4 quotes 3 verified

Jackson Pollock

6 quotes 5 verified

Jean-Michel Basquiat

5 quotes

Kara Walker

2 quotes 2 verified

Kehinde Wiley

3 quotes 3 verified

Keith Haring

4 quotes 2 verified

Kurt Vonnegut

1 quote 1 verified

Leonardo da Vinci

5 quotes 4 verified

Louise Bourgeois

5 quotes 5 verified

Marcel Duchamp

6 quotes 4 verified

Marina Abramovic

3 quotes 3 verified

Mark Rothko

5 quotes 3 verified

Mary Cassatt

3 quotes 2 verified

Michelangelo

2 quotes 2 verified

Oprah Winfrey

1 quote 1 verified

Oscar Wilde

5 quotes 5 verified

Pablo Picasso

2 quotes

Paul Cezanne

5 quotes 2 verified

Paul Klee

3 quotes 1 verified

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

4 quotes 1 verified

Rembrandt van Rijn

1 quote 1 verified

Salvador Dalí

5 quotes 3 verified

Vincent van Gogh

4 quotes 4 verified

Wassily Kandinsky

4 quotes 4 verified

Willem de Kooning

4 quotes 3 verified

Yayoi Kusama

4 quotes 4 verified

Yoko Ono

4 quotes 4 verified

Zdzisław Beksiński

3 quotes
About

Curated with Care, Verified with Rigor

Every quote in this collection has been researched against primary sources. We believe in truthful attribution—when a quote cannot be verified, we clearly mark it as "Attributed" rather than presenting it as fact.

Primary source verification
Clear attribution status
Museum & archive sourced

Sources Referenced

  • Van Gogh Letters Archive
  • Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
  • Keith Haring Journals
  • Smithsonian Archives
  • Quote Investigator
  • MoMA Publications