--- title: "12 Modern Painting Quotes by 12 authors" description: "Browse 12 Modern Painting quotes by 12 authors. Discover the best Modern Painting sayings and thoughts." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/624/james-ivory-11660_architecture_i-learned-to-paint-in-a-historical-metho_2137579.jpg" --- > [I learned to paint in a historical method. First through watercolours and then through oil. Then, when I went to college and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-ivory/i-learned-to-paint-in-a-historical-method-first-through-watercolours/) [James Ivory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-ivory/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/624/james-ivory-11660_architecture_i-learned-to-paint-in-a-historical-metho_2137579.jpg) > [A seventeenth-century painting can be "modern" because the living eye finds it fresh and new. A "modern" painting can be outdated because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/a-seventeenth-century-painting-can-be-modern-because-the-living-eye/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f3/marya-mannes-6222_artist_a-seventeenth-century-painting-can-be-mo_1484147.png) > [When I have used cartoon images, I've used them ironically to raise the question, 'Why would anyone want to do this with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-lichtenstein/when-i-have-used-cartoon-images-i-ve-used-them-ironically-to-raise/) [Roy Lichtenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-lichtenstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/roy-lichtenstein-8803_cartoon_when-i-have-used-cartoon-images-i-ve-use_2341889.png) > [The edge in modern painting is charged with neurosis; it meets a world that no longer confirms it but which is hostile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-graham-dixon/the-edge-in-modern-painting-is-charged-with-neurosis-it-meets-a-world/) [Andrew Graham-Dixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-graham-dixon/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b05/andrew-graham-dixon-58648_artist_the-edge-in-modern-painting-is-charged-w_2506535.png) > [Under his (Marc Chagall, ed.) sole impulse metaphor made its triumphal entry into modern painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/under-his-marc-chagall-ed-sole-impulse-metaphor-made-its-triumphal/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d5/andr-breton-2478_artist_under-his-marc-chagall-ed-sole-impulse-m_128690.jpg) > [With all their damned talk of modern painting, I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colours is black!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-auguste-renoir/with-all-their-damned-talk-of-modern-painting-i-ve-been-forty-years/) [Pierre-Auguste Renoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-auguste-renoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/074/pierre-auguste-renoir-7064_black_with-all-their-damned-talk-of-modern-pai_1751921.png) > [Painting should educate and enrich. Modern painting merely offers a split-second emotion: You see it, you have an instant reaction and move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/igor-babailov/painting-should-educate-and-enrich-modern-painting-merely-offers-a/) [Igor Babailov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/igor-babailov/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cc/igor-babailov-20513_educate_painting-should-educate-and-enrich-moder_3044687.png) > [If you try consciously to be avant-garde, it's a little dangerous, like the present state of modern painting, where dealers try to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/if-you-try-consciously-to-be-avant-garde-it-s-a-little-dangerous-like/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbf/simone-de-beauvoir-407_avant-garde_if-you-try-consciously-to-be-avant-garde_1442577.jpg) > [With regard to life, modern painting is a revolutionary activity…We need it in order to transform the world into a more humane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wifredo-lam/with-regard-to-life-modern-painting-is-a-revolutionary-activity-we/) [Wifredo Lam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wifredo-lam/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/wifredo-lam-286667_acceptance_with-regard-to-life-modern-painting-is-a_528599.png) > [Every intelligent painter carries the whole culture of modern painting in his head. It is his real subject, of which everything he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-motherwell/every-intelligent-painter-carries-the-whole-culture-of-modern/) [Robert Motherwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-motherwell/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b8/robert-motherwell-11726_artist_every-intelligent-painter-carries-the-wh_1594349.jpg) > [“Nevertheless, we react to one a bit differently than we do to Rothko’s hovering panels or Barnett Newman’s stripes, though Whistler does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/nevertheless-we-react-to-one-a-bit-differently-than-we-do-to-rothko-s/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/john-updike-396_american-art_nevertheless-we-react-to-one-a-bit-diffe_211883.png) > [The question so often asked of modern painting, "What is it?", contains more than the dull skepticism of the man who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-barthelme/the-question-so-often-asked-of-modern-painting-what-is-it-contains/) [Donald Barthelme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-barthelme/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/donald-barthelme-2980_active_the-question-so-often-asked-of-modern-pa_1642583.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-painting/#itemlist", "name": "Modern Painting Quotes", "numberOfItems": 12, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I learned to paint in a historical method. 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Modern painting merely offers a split-second emotion: You see it, you have an instant reaction and move on. Instead, real painting can be looked at over and over again and each time it has something new.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Igor Babailov" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/igor-babailov/painting-should-educate-and-enrich-modern-painting-merely-offers-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cc/igor-babailov-20513_educate_painting-should-educate-and-enrich-moder_3044687.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cc/igor-babailov-20513_educate_painting-should-educate-and-enrich-moder_3044687.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cc/igor-babailov-20513_educate_painting-should-educate-and-enrich-moder_3044687.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Painting should educate and enrich. 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It means that we must live imaginatively.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wifredo Lam" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wifredo-lam/with-regard-to-life-modern-painting-is-a-revolutionary-activity-we/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/wifredo-lam-286667_acceptance_with-regard-to-life-modern-painting-is-a_528599.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/wifredo-lam-286667_acceptance_with-regard-to-life-modern-painting-is-a_528599.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/wifredo-lam-286667_acceptance_with-regard-to-life-modern-painting-is-a_528599.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“With regard to life, modern painting is a revolutionary activity…We need it in order to transform the world…” — Wifredo Lam", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Every intelligent painter carries the whole culture of modern painting in his head. It is his real subject, of which everything he paints in both an homage and a critique, and everything he says is a gloss.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Motherwell" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-motherwell/every-intelligent-painter-carries-the-whole-culture-of-modern/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b8/robert-motherwell-11726_artist_every-intelligent-painter-carries-the-wh_1594349.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b8/robert-motherwell-11726_artist_every-intelligent-painter-carries-the-wh_1594349.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b8/robert-motherwell-11726_artist_every-intelligent-painter-carries-the-wh_1594349.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Every intelligent painter carries the whole culture of modern painting in his head. It is his real subject…” — Robert Motherwell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Nevertheless, we react to one a bit differently than we do to Rothko’s hovering panels or Barnett Newman’s stripes, though Whistler does approach their extremity of abstraction; part of our pleasure lies in recognizing bridges and buildings in the mist, and in sensing the damp riverine silence, the glimmering metropolitan presence. … The painting - a single blurred stripe of urban shore - is additionally daring in that the sky and sea are no shade of blue, but, instead, an improbable, pervasive cobalt green. Human vision is here taken to its limits, and modern painting, as a set of sensations realized in paint, is achieved.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Updike" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/nevertheless-we-react-to-one-a-bit-differently-than-we-do-to-rothko-s/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/john-updike-396_american-art_nevertheless-we-react-to-one-a-bit-diffe_211883.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/john-updike-396_american-art_nevertheless-we-react-to-one-a-bit-diffe_211883.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/john-updike-396_american-art_nevertheless-we-react-to-one-a-bit-diffe_211883.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nevertheless, we react to one a bit differently than we do to Rothko’s hovering panels or Barnett Newman’s…” — John Updike", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The question so often asked of modern painting, \"What is it?\", contains more than the dull skepticism of the man who is not going to have the wool pulled over his eyes. It speaks of a fundamental placement in relation to the work, that of a voyager in the world coming upon a strange object. The reader reconstitutes the work by his active participation, by approaching the object, tapping it, shaking it, holding it to his ear to hear the roaring within. It is characteristic of the object that it does not declare itself all at once, in a rush of pleasant naïveté.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Donald Barthelme" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-barthelme/the-question-so-often-asked-of-modern-painting-what-is-it-contains/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/donald-barthelme-2980_active_the-question-so-often-asked-of-modern-pa_1642583.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/donald-barthelme-2980_active_the-question-so-often-asked-of-modern-pa_1642583.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/donald-barthelme-2980_active_the-question-so-often-asked-of-modern-pa_1642583.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The question so often asked of modern painting, \"What is it?\", contains more than the dull skepticism of the…” — Donald Barthelme", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-painting/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-painting/", "name": "Modern Painting Quotes", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-painting/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/624/james-ivory-11660_architecture_i-learned-to-paint-in-a-historical-metho_2137579.jpg" }, "description": "Browse 12 Modern Painting quotes by 12 authors. 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