The most joyous painting is not done for the art world, it is done for the inner world. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
The work of the artist is to express what is repressed or even to speak the unspoken grief of society. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
I didn't mind my own company as a child; I was happy playing alone in the sandpit. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
I think melancholy is part of the natural condition, you know. Anyway, I think it's the artist's function to have their melancholy… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Art, like religion, arises from the spirit, but alas, the formalizing of spiritual life all too often ends in hypocrisy. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
All the world loves a young emerging artist, and sometimes it seems that all the world wants to be one - on… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
In contemporary art culture, where good looks and clever strategic planning of art careers have become a feature, professional practice may be… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Of all the seasons, winter is the most conducive to the great art of dormancy. This art requires an appreciation of semi-consciousness:… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
All good art is seditious, but the people in authority can never recognise it. I think when you mention sedition, artists are… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
There's a particular sensitivity required to be an artist, and a certain vulnerability, perhaps, and also, somewhere between, you're in your body… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Art is about the messy and marvelous business of coming to your senses - and also, to the senses of the world. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Existential philosophy, poetry and art - just like sadness - were all unavoidable to a tender young man in the meat works. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Life itself is offensive and certainly does not apologize - in fact, it hurts considerably and, as we all know, is often… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Art, it seems to me, doesn't need freedom so much as it needs courage and love - some would call it 'soul'… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Ah, whimsical. It's terrible the way words get attached to you like barnacles. As is what I do is acting on a… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
There are times when the art world seems like a religious empire. There are great cathedral galleries and pilgrimage sites where treasured… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
For me, spirit is the impulse towards life, the Eros in a person leaping forward, whereas soul refers to something possibly long..… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
In my journey as a cartoonist, I seem to have accidentally stumbled into all sorts of traps, damnations and blacklists. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
There are only two feelings, Love and fear: There are only two languages, Love and fear: There are only two activities, Love and fear:… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
If European symbols and traditions have grown tired, perfunctory and oppressively banal in Australia, or been drained of spirit and meaning by the dreary… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Socialised humanity represses nature and degrades human nature; it takes life and waters it down - probably to control it - diluting existence with… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
I became a cartoonist because I'd sort of failed at everything else, really. I mean, it was by default. — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
I never really understood who the Magi were as a child. What is a Magi? Not a word I would use, but a magpie… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
God bless this tiny little boat, And me who travels in it. It stays afloat for years and years, And sinks within a minute.… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
There can be many reasons to travel, but wandering into the world for no particular reason is a sublime madness, which in all its… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
Life seems sadly mishandled by humans, as if it's all too much for them - they spend so much time and energy hurting each… — Michael Leunig Copy Share Image
