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Artist Quotes by Irving Stone

39 Artist quotes by Irving Stone

All Artist quotes Irving Stone’s page

Only suffering grows big artists, and nature often pushes back at the start. He says art should focus on abstract elements like color and line, not on fixing social problems. He also treats art as a religious calling, something that a person must feel compelled to do.

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“The artist has to take risks.”

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“Only suffering grows big artists.”

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“Artists thrive on suffering.”

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Normal people do not create art.

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“Art destroys the life.”

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“An artist does not have to think about what he is doing.”

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No artist is normal. Who happen to be normal cannot be an artist.

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Nature always resists the artist at the beginning.

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“The sculptor is master of time; he can change his subjects forward or back.”

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All artists are crackpots. And it's their finest feature.

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Someday my paintings will be hanging in the Louvre. [Vincent Van Gogh]

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An artist without ideas is a mendicant; barren, he goes begging among the hours.

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A man who has not suffered has nothing to tell with his paintings.

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We...believe that art is religious, because it is one of man's highest aspirations. There is no such thing as pagan art, only…

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“Vincent did not know how to express his feelings in words. He knew how to paint them. However, one cannot paint the…

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The real artist while he paints does not think of the sale, only of the need to make a beautiful living thing.

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“They had painted in a grand rush to keep intact the purity of their first impression, the mood in which the motif…

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...that horrible moment of suspense when the artist shows one of his creations to strange eyes for the first time.

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... a canvas that I have covered is worth more than a blank canvas. My pretensions go no further; that is my…

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Art is amoral; so is life. For me there are no obscene pictures or books; there are only poorly conceived and poorly…

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“ 'Tell me, please,' Van Gogh asked, 'is it justifiable that a person wastes his only life by selling worthless paintings for…

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“Do you know the anecdote about Rubens? He was serving Holland as Ambassador to Spain and used to spend the afternoon in…

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“Art should be linked to abstract things - color, line, tone. It is not an instrument to improve social conditions and chase…

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I knew that I had to find out more about van Gogh. Even though I was far too young, and felt I…

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“Because it will make a real artist of you. The more you suffer, the more grateful you ought to be. An empty…

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Art's a staple. Like bread or wine or a warm coat in winter. Those who think it is a luxury have only…

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He made his colours, built his stretchers, plastered his canvas, painted his pictures, carpentered his frames, and painted them. 'Too bad I…

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“It's pleasant to get used to the expensive, the soft, the comfortable. Once you're addicted, it's so easy to become a sycophant,…

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I cannot draw a human figure if I don't know the order of his bones, muscles or tendons. Same is that I…

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“What the world thought made little difference. Rembrandt had to paint. Whether he painted well or badly didn't matter; painting was the…

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The paintings that laughed at him merrily from the walls were like nothing he had ever seen or dreamed of. Gone were…

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To be an artist is first to be a manual laborer.

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The maximum value of art is that it allows the artist to express himself.

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An artist would not rise above the mediocrity if he condemns it.

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I will be an artist. I am sure I will. [Vincent Van Gogh]

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“A person may paint or talk about painting but he cannot do both at the same time.”

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He had been standing still; for an artist, one of the more painful forms of death.

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Bleed me of art, and there won't be enough liquid left in me to spit! [Michelangelo Buonorotti]

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One should not become an artist because he can, but because he must. It is only for those who would be miserable…

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More by Irving Stone

You cannot be the good all the time — sometimes it is necessary to get angry. [Vincent Van Gogh]

The brooding is better than the joy because even if the heart fills with happiness, it still mourns.

“Diligence does not work if there is a lack of innate talent.”

“From this vantage point he came to a realization that everything that had happened to him before this had been a journey upward through…

Listen, my friend, all forms that exist in God's universe can be found in the human figure. A man's body and face can tell…

You cannot be firmly certain about anything. You can only have enough courage and strength to do what you consider to be right. Maybe…

“Only suffering grows big artists.”

“The fields that push up the corn, and the water that rushes down the ravine, the juice of the grape, and the life of…

Nature always resists the artist at the beginning.

Sometimes men are generous and forgiving, sometimes angry and blind.

Reading is a stout-hearted activity, disporting courage, keenness, stick-to-it-ness. It is also, in my experience, one of the most thrilling and enduring delights of…

Do not call yourself old. A man is as old as the creative force within him.

“Art should be linked to abstract things - color, line, tone. It is not an instrument to improve social conditions and chase ugliness. Painting…

I will be an artist. I am sure I will. [Vincent Van Gogh]

His mind was like a soup dish, wide and shallow; it could hold a small amount of nearly anything, but the slightest jarring spilled…