“Painting is the most beautiful of all arts. In it, all sensations are condensed, at its aspect everyone may create romance at the will of his imagination, and at a glance have his soul invaded by the most profound memories, no efforts of memory, everything summed up in one moment. Complete art which…”— Paul Gaugin, en.wikiquote.org
“What is art really? The outcome of dissatisfaction with life, the point of impact for the creative force, the continual movement of life.. ..in my art I attempt to explain life and its meaning to myself.”— Edvard Munch, en.wikiquote.org
“My afflictions belong to me and my art - they have become one with me. Without illness and anxiety, I would have been a rudderless ship.. .My art is really a voluntary confession and an attempt to explain to myself my relationship with life - it is, therefore, actually a sort of egoism, but I am con…”— Edvard Munch, en.wikiquote.org
“My art is rooted in a single reflection: why am I not as others are? ..my art gives meaning to my life.”— Edvard Munch, en.wikiquote.org
“No one in art has yet penetrated as far as Dostoyevsky into the mystical realms of the soul, towards the metaphysical, the subconsciousness, viewing the external reality of the world as merely a sign, a symbol of the spiritual and metaphysical.”— Edvard Munch, en.wikiquote.org
“When seen as a whole, art derives from a person’s desire to communicate himself to another. I do not believe in an art which is not forced into existence by a human being’s desire to open his heart. All art, literature, and music must be born in your heart’s blood. Art is your heart’s blood.”— Edvard Munch, en.wikiquote.org
“I am at work on a girl. It is quite simple a girl getting up on the edge of her bed and pulling on her stockings. The bed is whitish, and in addition there are white sheets, a white nightdress, a bedside table with a white cover, white curtains and a blue wall.”— Edvard Munch, en.wikiquote.org
“For he who creates must be a world of his own and everything within himself and in the natural world that he has elected to follow.”— Rainer Maria Rilke, amazon.com
“I hope when people ask what you’re going to do with your English degree and/or creative writing degree you’ll say: ‘Continue my bookish examination of the contradictions and complexities of human motivation and desire;’ or maybe just: ‘Carry it with me, as I do everything that matters.’ And then smi…”— Cheryl Strayed, amazon.com
“Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.”— Henri Matisse, en.wikiquote.org
“A musician once said: In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands what one is doing or what one knows, and when there remains an energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled and compressed. It is therefore necessary to present oneself with the greatest humilit…”— Henri Matisse, amazon.com
“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.”— Henri Matisse, en.wikiquote.org
“Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality.”— Henri Matisse, en.wikiquote.org
“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or disturbing subject matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman was well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair wh…”— Henri Matisse, amazon.com
“For me all is in the conception. I must therefore have a clear vision of the whole from the beginning.”— Henri Matisse, amazon.com
“Suppose I want to paint a woman's body: first of all I imbue it with grace and charm, but I know that I must give something more. I will condense the meaning of this body by seeking its essential lines. The charm will be less apparent at first glance, but it must eventually emerge from the new image…”— Henri Matisse, amazon.com
“I once loved boys who wanted to make me into poetry to eulogize my being, tattoo me onto his paper, tuck away my words into thick letters and crisp envelopes. I would not be his art, so I decided to make my own.”— Michelle K., michellekpoems.tumblr.com
“I don't want to produce a work of art that the public can sit and suck aesthetically…. I want to give them a blow in the small of the back, to scorch their indifference, to startle them out of their complacency.”— Ingmar Bergman, en.wikiquote.org
“Film has dream, film has music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul.”— Ingmar Bergman, amazon.com