1. I wasn't a good student, I
wasn't an athlete, and I
think that helped focus me
early in my life.
-Chuck Close
2. Art to me is a humanitarian act
and I believe that there is a
responsibility that art should
somehow be able to effect
mankind, to make the word a
better place.
-Jeff Koons
3. When I paint, the sea
roars. The others splash
about in the bath.
-Salvador Dali
4. What counts most is
finding new ways to get
the world down in paint on
my own terms.
-Michelangelo
5. I think about my work
every minute of the day.
-Jeff Koons
6. The job of the artist is
always to deepen the
mystery.
-Francis Bacon
7. The Louvre is the book in
which we learn to read.
-Paul Cezanne
8. I always feel attacked
when I'm asked about my
painting.
-Georges Baselitz
9. I start a picture and I
finish it. I don't think
about art while I work. I
try to think about life.
-Jean Michel Basquiat
10. Will God or someone else give
me the strength to breathe the
breath of prayer and mourning
into my paintings, the breath of
prayer for redemption and
resurrection?
-Marc Chagall
11. I've always thought that
problem solving is highly
overrated and that
problem creation is far
more interesting.
-Chuck Close
12. The habit of ignoring Nature is
deeply implanted in our times.
This attitude reminds me of
people who never look you in
the ye; I find them disturbing
and always have to look away.
-Marc Chagall
13. Where the spirit does
not work with the hand
there is no art.
-Leonardo Di Vinci
14. My hands were too soft.. I had
to find some special occupation,
some kind of work that would
not force me to turn away from
the sky and the stars, that
would allow me to discover the
meaning of life.
-Marc Chagall
15. I paint for myself. I don’t
know how to do anything
else, anyway. Also I have
to earn my living, and
occupy myself.
-Francis Bacon
16. A work of art which did
not begin in emotion is not
art.
-Paul Cezanne
17. My name is Marc, my
emotional life is sensitive
and my purse is empty,
but they say I have talent.
-Marc Chagall
18. What counts most is
finding new ways to get
the world down in paint on
my own terms.
-Georges Baselitz
19. But perhaps my art is the
art of a lunatic, I thought,
mere glittering quicksilver,
a blue soul breaking in
upon my pictures.
-Marc Chagall
20. All artists are vain, they long to
be recognized and to leave
something to posterity. They
want to be loved, and at the
same time they want to be free.
But nobody is free.
-Francis Bacon
21. Inspiration is highly overrated.
If you sit around and wait for
the clouds to part, it's not liable
to ever happen. More often than
not work is salvation.
-Chuck Close
22. Great art is the outward
expression of an inner life
in the artist.
-Edward Hopper
23. I never paint dreams or
nightmares. I paint my
own reality.
-Frida Kahlo
24. A good painter has two main objects
to paint, man and the intention of
his soul. The former is easy, the
latter hard as he has to represent it
by the attitude and movement of the
limbs.
-Leonardo Di Vinci
25. I'm always trying to create work
that doesn't make viewers feel
they're being spoken down to,
so that they feel open
participation.
-Jeff Koons
26. Drawing is the honesty of
the art. There is no
possibility of cheating. It
is either good or bad.
-Salvador Dali
27. I think a painter looking at
a painting sees the image,
but they also see how the
image was constructed.
-Chuck Close
28.
29. The only thing I know is that I
paint because I need to, and I
paint whatever passes through
my head without any other
consideration.
-Frida Kahlo
30. You know the worst thing
is freedom. Freedom of
any kind is the worst for
creativity.
-Salvador Dali
31. If I could say it in words
there would be no reason
to paint.
-Edward Hopper
