256 Quotes by Henri Matisse

The arts have a development which comes not only from the individual but also from a whole acquired force, the civilization which precedes us. One cannot do just anything. A talented artist cannot do whatever he pleases. If he only used his gifts, he would not exist. We are not the masters of what we produce. It is imposed on us.

You want to paint? First of all you must cut off your tongue because your decision takes away from you the right to express yourself with anything but your brush.

The residuum of another's expression can never be related to one's own feeling.

Seek the strongest color effect possible... the content is of no importance.

What matters most to me? To work with my model until I have it enough in me to be able to improvise, to let my hand run free...

What I dream of is an art of balance.

I have simply wished to assert the reasoned and independent feeling of my own individuality within a total knowledge of tradition.

I was very embarrassed when my canvases began to fetch high prices. I saw myself condemned to a future of nothing but Masterpieces.

The things that are acquired consciously permit us to express ourselves unconsciously with a certain richness.