Compilation of quotes about Art & Expression

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso

“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse

“Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” – Twyla Tharp

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon

“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.” – Pablo Picasso

“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – André Gide

“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.” – Paul Strand

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“Art must be an integral part of the struggle. It can’t simply mirror what’s taking place. It must aspire to shape it.” – Mari Evans

“The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist.” – Eric Gill

“Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” – Theodore Dreiser

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“A picture is a poem without words.” – Horace

“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

“Art is the proper task of life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” – James Whistler

“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” – Banksy

“In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” – George Bernard Shaw

“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.” – James Baldwin

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” – Oscar Wilde

“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” – Michelangelo

“The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.” – Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

“Art is freedom. Being able to bend things most people see as a straight line.” – Unknown

“Art is the highest form of hope.” – Gerhard Richter

“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.” – George Bernard Shaw

“The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.” – Leo Tolstoy

“The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.” – Jerzy Kosinski

“Art speaks where words are unable to explain.” – Mathiole

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” – Alberto Giacometti

“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” – Mark Rothko

“The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.” – Pablo Picasso

“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” – Charles Horton Cooley

“I shut my eyes in order to see.” – Paul Gauguin

“If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper

“Art is a line around your thoughts.” – Gustav Klimt

“What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit.” – John Updike

“Art is the journey of a free soul.” – Alev Oguz

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” – Piet Mondrian