Quote

All that is not useful in a picture is detrimental. A work of art must be harmonious in its entirety for superfluous details would, in the mind of the beholder, encroach upon the essential elements.

Henri Matisse

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Henri Matisse
Age: 84 †
Born: 1869
Born: December 31
Died: 1954
Died: November 3
Artist
Designer
Drawer
Exlibrist
Graphic Artist
Painter
Printmaker
Sculptor
Le Cateau
Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse
Henri Emile Benoît Matisse
Henri Emile Benoit Matisse
Anri Matiss
Henri-Emile-Benoît Matisse
Henri-Emile-Benoit Matisse
H. Matisse
matisse h.
h. matisse
matisse henri
Henri-Matisse
Matisse
Mind
Essentials
Detrimental
Would
Harmony
Entirety
Picture
Beholder
Elements
Superfluous
Upon
Harmonious
Art
Useful
Must
Details
Work
Essential
Encroach

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There are wonderful things in Jazz, the improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.
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I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
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...I am driven on by an idea that I really only grasp as it grows with the picture.
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The artist begins with a vision - a creative operation requiring an effort.
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A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject-matter.
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An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.
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Fit the parts together, one into the other, and build your figure like a carpenter builds a house. Everything must be constructed, composed of parts that make a whole.
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Above all, an artist must never be too easily satisfied with what he has done.
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I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.
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The sign is determined at the moment I use it and for the object of which it must form a part. For this reason I cannot determine in advance signs which never change, and which would be like writing: that would paralyze the freedom of my invention.
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The energy within you is stronger than ever for being held back, compressed, and said No to.
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After a half-century of hard work and reflection the wall is still there.
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I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.
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The arts have a development which comes not only from the individual but also from a whole acquired force, the civilization which precedes us. One cannot do just anything. A talented artist cannot do whatever he pleases. If he only used his gifts, he would not exist. We are not the masters of what we produce. It is imposed on us.
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Did not the artists of the great age of Japanese art change names many times during their careers? I like that they wanted to safeguard their freedom.
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We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire universe.
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I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into painting.
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A work should contain its total meaning within itself and should impress it on the spectator before he even knows the subject.
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Never ruin a good painting with the truth.
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