Some things to think about!                                                                                                               Return to intro

“My choice of colours does not rest on any scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility. Inspired by certain pages of Delacroix, an artist like Signac is preoccupied with complementary colors,.......
Henri Matisse

“It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.”
Henri Matisse

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

“Art is made to disturb. Science reassures.”
 Georges Braque

“Truth exists; only lies are invented.”
 Georges Braque

“Once an object has been incorporated in a picture it accepts a new destiny.”
 Georges Braque

“There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.”
 Georges Braque

“To define a thing is to substitute the definition for the thing itself.”
 Georges Braque

“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”
 Pablo Picasso

“Everything you can imagine is real.”
 Pablo Picasso

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”
Pablo Picasso

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
Pablo Picasso

“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”
 Pablo Picasso

“I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money.”
Pablo Picasso

“Art is the elimination of the unnecessary”
 Pablo Picasso

“The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?”
Pablo Picasso

There are only two types of women - goddesses and doormats”
Pablo Picasso

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”
Pablo Picasso

“Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.”
Pablo Picasso

“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”
Pablo Picasso

 “Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?”
Pablo Picasso

“I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.”
 Pablo Picasso

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
Pablo Picasso

 “I am always doing things I can't do, that's how I get to do them.”
 Pablo Picasso

“Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face, or what's behind it?”
Pablo Picasso

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
Pablo Picasso

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”
Pablo Picasso

“One never knows what one is going to do. One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite different.”
Pablo Picasso

“He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”
Pablo Picasso

“Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?”
Pablo Picasso


“Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? no. Just as one can never learn how to paint.”
Pablo Picasso

“The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it. The more technique there is, the less there is.”
Pablo Picasso

 “I can explain the picture to you, and you will understand my explanation, but you will not understand the picture.”
Pablo Picasso

“It's really about liberty. I'm very concerned about a growing intolerance and bossiness throughout society. Pubs are not health clubs.”
David Hockney

 “Smoking, ... calms me down. And it's enjoyable. A little bit of what you fancy does you good. I don't want politicians deciding what is exciting in my life. These are decisions you make yourself, not government.”
David Hockney


“He who pretends to be either painter or engraver without being a master of drawing is an imposter.”
William Blake

“Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.”
Salvador Dalí

 “Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.”