Quote

Each work of art is a collection of signs invented during the picture's execution to suit the needs of their position. Taken out of the composition for which they were created, these signs have no further use.

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
Created
Collection
Position
Execution
Taken
Suit
Use
Composition
Art
Collections
Needs
Invented
Work
Suits
Picture
Signs

More quotes by Henri Matisse

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If drawing belongs to the world of spirit and color to that of the senses, you must draw first to cultivate the spirit.
Henri Matisse
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Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.
Henri Matisse
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To draw is to make an idea precise. Drawing is the precision of thought.
Henri Matisse
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A rapid rendering of a landscape represents only one moment of its existence. I prefer, by insisting upon its essential character, to risk losing charm in order to gain greater stability.
Henri Matisse
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It is with color that you render light, though you must also feel this light, have it within yourself.
Henri Matisse
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The wall around the window does not create two worlds.
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I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
Henri Matisse
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With greater completeness and abstraction, I have attained a form filtered to its essentials.
Henri Matisse
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If I close my eyes, I see things better than with my eyes open.
Henri Matisse
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Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive the place occupied by my figures, the empty space around them, the proportions, everything has its share.
Henri Matisse
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Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the various elements which the painter uses to express his sentiments. In a picture every separate part will be visible and... everything which has no utility in the picture is for that reason harmful.
Henri Matisse
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The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning... The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express.
Henri Matisse
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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.
Henri Matisse
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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.
Henri Matisse
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What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Henri Matisse
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Drawing is putting a line around an idea.
Henri Matisse
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Love wants to rise, not to be held down by anything base... He who loves flies, runs, and rejoices he is free and nothing holds him back. Derive happiness from yourself, from a good day's work, from the clearing that it makes in the fog that surrounds us.
Henri Matisse
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Starting to paint, I felt gloriously free, quiet, and alone.
Henri Matisse
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I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
Henri Matisse
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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.
Henri Matisse