John Singer Sargent

I hate to paint portraits! I hope never to paint another portrait in my life. Portraiture may be all right for a…

— John Singer Sargent

A portrait is a picture in which there is just a tiny little something not quite right about the mouth.

— John Singer Sargent

A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.

— John Singer Sargent

“A portrait is a picture with something wrong with the mouth”

— John Singer Sargent

A person with normal eyesight would have nothing to know in the way of 'Impressionism' unless he were in a blinding light…

— John Singer Sargent

Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend.

— John Singer Sargent

Color is an inborn gift, but appreciation of value is merely training of the eye, which everyone ought to be able to…

— John Singer Sargent

Cultivate an ever-continuous power of observation. Wherever you are, be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups and incidents.

— John Singer Sargent

Cultivate an ever continuous power of observation. Wherever you are, be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups and incidents.…

— John Singer Sargent

I don't dig beneath the surface for things that don't appear before my own eyes.

— John Singer Sargent

It is certain that at certain times talent entirely overcomes thought or poetry.

— John Singer Sargent

Make the best of an emergency.

— John Singer Sargent

You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh.

— John Singer Sargent

Mine is the horny hand of toil.

— John Singer Sargent

If you begin with the middle-tone and work up from it toward the darks so that you deal last with your highest…

— John Singer Sargent

The thicker you paint, the more it flows.

— John Singer Sargent

The habit of breaking up one's colour to make it brilliant dates from further back than Impressionism - Couture advocates it in…

— John Singer Sargent

Impressionism' was the name given to a certain form of observation when Monet, not content with using his eyes to see what…

— John Singer Sargent

To work is to pray.

— John Singer Sargent

An artist painting a picture should have at his side a man with a club to hit him over the head when…

— John Singer Sargent

No small dabs of colour - you want plenty of paint to paint with.

— John Singer Sargent