19 Quotes by Francesco Clemente

We are not naturally intelligent, or happy. In fact, every day it is harder to remain intelligent. It seems often that people get intelligent through pain, but you can’t be sure because nobody really can say, “I’ve been suffering.”

I repeatedly refuse to make any practical decisions. I get a feeling of nausea about practicality.

In India and in New York the economy is naked. People are starving physically in India, and emotionally in New York.

To me the poets are closer than I am to the idea of voice, to a sort of primeval song that we all participate in.

Fashion is the pursuit of perfection, Style is the acceptance of one’s flaws.

I never paint a portrait from a photograph, because a photograph doesn’t give enough information about what the person feels.

When you sit for an hour and a half in front of somebody, he or she shows about twenty faces. And so it’s this crazy chase of, Which face? Which one is the one?

My portraits are half what I see and the other half is invented or dictated by the person and the painting.

It is very scary to think mechanically about someone you know. That means that the second time you meet a person is useless. Which I tend to believe anyway.