I love art, and have been collecting art for a few years. To many people, art is a luxury, even elitist. However, the fact that humans everywhere have been creating art for a very long time tells us that art isn’t a luxury. It is a form of human intelligence poured into creative expressions to fulfil individual or societal needs. Below, I’ve gathered quotes by eminent artists past and present that throw light on what art means to them, and maybe to us.
Art is not a Luxury
“The object isn’t to make art; it is to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
~ Robert Henri, American painter and teacher.
“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”
~ Edward Hopper, American painter.
“Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness.”
~ Anni Albers, German visual artist.
Art and Reason
“I don’t know why people expect art to make sense. They accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense.”
~ David Lynch, American filmmaker.
“From music, people accept pure emotions but from art they demand explanation.”
~ Agnes Martin, American painter.
Art and Consciousness
“We have a tremendous range of abstract feelings, but we don’t pay attention to them.”
~ Agnes Martin
“A painting is not a picture of an experience. It is an experience.”
~ Mark Rothko, American painter.
“Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.”
Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter.
“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.”
Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter.
Art and Spirituality
“The arts fare much better alongside religion than alongside capitalism or communism.”
~ Jeanette Winterson, English author.
Art and Beauty
“That is beautiful which is produced by the inner need, which springs from the soul.”
~ Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter.
“There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.”
~ Conrad Hall, American cinematographer.
“The tides of time should be able to imprint the passing of the years on an object. The physical decay or natural wear and tear of the materials used does not in the least detract from the visual appeal, rather it adds to it.”
~ Andrew Juniper, British author.
On the Necessity of ‘Difficult’ Art
“The eye and mind don’t like chaos. Beauty only springs to life when all of the pieces seem to fit but the mystery remains.”
~ Arty Grimm, artist.
“People are moved by what they have never seen or felt. True art confronts the unknown, the uncertain and the unformed.”
~ Lee Ufan, Korean artist.
What Artists Bring to the World
“It is through the painter, writer, composer who lives more intensely than the rest of us that we can discover the intensity of the physical world … and not only the physical world.”
~ Jeanette Winterson, English author.
“The true effort of art is to open us to the dimensions of the spirit and of the self that normally lie smothered under the weight of living.”
Jeanette Winterson