To draw is to make an idea precise. Drawing is the precision of thought. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Aren't you [Tahiti Lagoons] one of the seven wonders of the Paradise of painters? — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
The artist begins with a vision - a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I have to create an object which resembles the tree. The sign for a tree, and not the sign that other artists… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I was very embarrassed when my canvases began to fetch high prices. I saw myself condemned to a future of nothing but… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
The portrait is one of the most curious art forms. It demands special qualities in the artist, and an almost total kinship… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I never retouch a sketch: I take a canvas the same size, as I may change the composition somewhat. But I always… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
If drawing belongs to the world of spirit and color to that of the senses, you must draw first to cultivate the… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Photographs will always be impressive because they show us nature, and all artists will find in them a world of sensations. The… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
The arts have a development which comes not only from the individual but also from a whole acquired force, the civilization which… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I do not repudiate any of my paintings but there isn't one of them that I would not redo differently, if I… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Truth and reality in art begin at the point where the artist ceases to understand what he is doing and capable of… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I don't paint women, I paint pictures. . . What I am after above all is expression. If in a portrait I… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
If people knew what Matisse, supposedly the painter of happiness, had gone through, the anguish and tragedy he had to overcome to… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Everything that we see in our daily lives is more or less distorted by acquired habits and this is perhaps more evident… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I have always sought to be understood and, while I was taken to task by critics or colleagues, I thought they were… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
When I paint green, it doesn't mean grass; when I paint blue, it doesn't mean sky. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
When I saw what a mess everything was in I asked for my money back on the ticket. I would have felt I was… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
A painting in an interior spreads joy around it by the colors, which calm us. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Color was not given to us in order that we should imitate Nature. It was given to us so that we can express our… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
If it is practiced by a man of taste, the photograph will have the appearance of art (but) the photographer must...intervene as little as… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
The chief function of color should be to serve expression as well as possible. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
My pictures are made up of four or five colors that collide with one another… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
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