256 Quotes by Henri Matisse


  • Author Henri Matisse
  • Quote

    An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must not feel under any constraint.

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  • Author Henri Matisse
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    Everything that we see in our daily lives is more or less distorted by acquired habits and this is perhaps more evident in an age like ours when cinema posters and magazines present us every day with a flood of ready-made images which are to the eye what prejudices are to the mind. The effort to see things without distortion demands a kind of courage; and this courage is essential to the artist, who has to look at everything as though he were seeing it for the first time.

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  • Author Henri Matisse
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    Arrival = Prison, and the artist must never be a prisoner.

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  • Author Henri Matisse
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    An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.

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  • Author Henri Matisse
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    If drawing belongs to the world of spirit and color to that of the senses, you must draw first to cultivate the spirit.

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  • Author Henri Matisse
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    You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.

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