Henri Matisse Quotes

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose because before he...

In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firm...

Creativity takes courage.

The importance of an artist is to be measured by the quantity of new signs which he has introduced t...

From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into i...

It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used desc...

A work should contain its total meaning within itself and should impress it on the spectator before ...

Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.

Creativity takes courage.

I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some kind of a Buddhist. But the ...

Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while working.

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subje...

With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.

Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.

He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.

You must forget all your theories, all your ideas before the subject. What part of these is really y...

I do not distinguish between the construction of a book and that of a painting and I always proceed ...

I didn't expect to recover from my second operation but since I did, I consider that I'm living on b...

Exactitude is not truth.

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.

Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are...

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, priso...