I counted solely on the clarity of expression of my work to gain my ends. — Henri Matisse Clarity Copy Share Image
He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back. — Henri Matisse Love Copy Share Image
I did my sculpture as a painter. I did not work as a sculptor. — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
It has always bothered me that I don't paint like everyone else — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself… — 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 Art Copy Share Image
Fit the parts together, one into the other, and build your figure like a carpenter builds a house. Everything must be constructed,… — Henri Matisse Carpenter Copy Share Image
We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought,… — Henri Matisse Curiosity 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 Art Copy Share Image
It is with color that you render light, though you must also feel this light, have it within yourself. — Henri Matisse Color 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 Artist 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… — Henri Matisse Color Copy Share Image
All that I really have to recount are observations and notes made during the course of my life as a painter. I… — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
Ever since there have been men, man has given himself over to too little joy. That alone, my brothers, is our original… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
A distinction is made between artists who work directly from nature and those who work purely from imagination. Neither if these methods… — Henri Matisse Art Copy Share Image
The sign is determined at the moment I use it and for the object of which it must form a part. For… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Put a colour upon a canvas - it not only colours with that colour the part of the canvas to which the… — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of but… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Colours have their own distinctive beauty that you have to preserve, just as in music you try to preserve sounds. It is… — Henri Matisse Arrangements Copy Share Image
Each work of art is a collection of signs invented during the picture's execution to suit the needs of their position. Taken… — Henri Matisse Art Copy Share Image
When I started to paint I felt transported into a kind of paradise... In everyday life I was usually bored and vexed...… — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into… — Henri Matisse Beast Copy Share Image
Drawing is . . . not an exercise of particular dexterity, but above all a means of expressing intimate feelings and moods. — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
“I do not distinguish between the construction of a book and that of a painting and I always proceed from the simple… — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
Did not the artists of the great age of Japanese art change names many times during their careers? I like that; they… — Henri Matisse Age Copy Share Image
The importance of an artist is to be measured by the quantity of new signs which he has introduced to the language… — Henri Matisse Art Copy Share Image
I was driven on by.. A force which I see today as something alien to my normal life... so I have been… — Henri Matisse Aliens Copy Share Image
The energy within you is stronger than ever for being held back, compressed, and said No to ... — Henri Matisse Energy Copy Share Image
The whole arrangement of my picture is expressive. The place occupied by the figures or objects, the empty spaces around them, the… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Simple colours can affect the intimate feelings with all the more force because they are simple. — Henri Matisse Color Copy Share Image
When an artist or student draws a nude figure with painstaking care, the result is drawing, and not emotion. — Henri Matisse Art 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… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit and a love of play. — Henri Matisse Creative Copy Share Image
I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into… — Henri Matisse Artist Copy Share Image
Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better. — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn't so much the worse… — Henri Matisse Character Copy Share Image
A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify… — Henri Matisse Art Copy Share Image
Purer colors... have in themselves, independently of the objects they serve to express, a significant action on the feelings of those who… — Henri Matisse Action Copy Share Image
My models, my human figures, are never like extras in an interior. They are the main theme of my work. I depend… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
I shan't get free of my emotion by copying the tree faithfully, or by drawing its leaves one by one in the… — Henri Matisse Copy Share Image
