Quote

The sign for which I forge an image has no value if it doesn't harmonize with other signs, which I must determine in the course of my invention and which are completely peculiar to it.

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
Value
Signs
Courses
Peculiar
Course
Invention
Values
Sign
Doesn
Determine
Must
Harmony
Image
Harmonize
Completely
Forge

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The whole arrangement of my picture is expressive. The place occupied by the figures or objects, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, everything plays a part.
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Ever since there have been men, man has given himself over to too little joy. That alone, my brothers, is our original sin. I should believe only in a God who understood how to dance.
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An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must not feel under any constraint.
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I simply try to put down colors which render my sensation
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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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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.
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Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.
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Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue
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I want to reach that condensation of sensations that constitutes a picture.
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Photographs will always be impressive because they show us nature, and all artists will find in them a world of sensations. The photographer must therefore intervene as little as possible, so as not to cause photography to lose the objective charm which it naturally possesses, notwithstanding its defects.
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Truly, I'm not joking when I thank my lucky stars for the awful operation I had, since it has made me young again and philosophical which means that I don't want to fritter away the new lease on life I've been given.
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When I put a green, it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.
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I have to create an object which resembles the tree. The sign for a tree, and not the sign that other artists may have found for the tree.
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You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.
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Arrival = Prison, and the artist must never be a prisoner.
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Starting to paint, I felt gloriously free, quiet, and alone.
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It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.
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The artist begins with a vision - a creative operation requiring an effort.
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Colours have their own distinctive beauty that you have to preserve, just as in music you try to preserve sounds. It is a question of organization, of finding the arrangement that will keep the beauty and freshness of the colour
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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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