Art Quotes by Famous Artists

I’ve always loved reading and collecting art quotes by famous artists. I have notebooks filled with them. You’ve probably visited my website that I started many years ago dedicated to art quotes if you’re also into them. I collected and shared thousands of them.

So, now that I have decided to start using my art site as a blog I’ll probably be sharing some of my favourite art quotes from time to time.

Art Quotes by Famous Artists

• A painting is a conglomeration of failings. But, we can say this of life also. Anselm Kiefer
• I have always tried to hide my own efforts and wished my works to have the lightness and joyousness of a springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labours it cost. Henri Matisse
• Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches. Andy Warhol
• Without atmosphere a painting is nothing. Rembrandt
• Art should astonish, transmute, transfix. One must work at the tissue between truth and paranoia. Brett Whiteley
• Art is the elimination of the unnecessary. Pablo Picasso
• An illustrational form tells you through the intelligence immediately what the form is about, whereas a non-illustrational form works first upon sensation and then slowly leaks back into the fact. Francis Bacon
• I sit for two or three hours and then in 15 minutes I can do a painting, but that’s part of it. You have to get ready and decide to jump up and do it; you build yourself up psychologically, and so painting has no time for brush. Brush is boring, you give it and all of a sudden it’s dry, you have to go. Before you cut the thought, you know? Cy Twombly
• I think art is good at looking back and looking forward. I don’t think art is good at looking head-on. Damien Hirst
• I must see new things and investigate them. I want to taste dark water and see crackling trees and wild winds. Egon Schiele
• The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting. Vincent van Gogh
• I opened my own gallery, in 1980, which I always thought was the most honest thing you could do. It’s like a chef opening his restaurant. Ken Done

What are some art quotes or sayings that you like? I love artist interviews too of course. Generally I like things written by artists rather than about artists.

One more thing. Have you seen the How to draw a pair of shoes video I recently made?