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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.

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
Matter
Identify
Must
Significance
Even
Complete
Work
Carry
Subject
Subjects
Upon
Beholder
Art
Impose

More quotes by Henri Matisse

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Truth and reality in art begin at the point where the artist ceases to understand what he is doing and capable of doing - yet feels in himself a force that becomes steadily stronger... and more concentrated.
Henri Matisse
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Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue
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
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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.
Henri Matisse
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When I paint green, it doesn't mean grass when I paint blue, it doesn't mean sky.
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 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.
Henri Matisse
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Nothing can be accomplished without love.
Henri Matisse
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A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn't so much the worse for you.
Henri Matisse
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The artist begins with a vision - a creative operation requiring an effort.
Henri Matisse
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...I am driven on by an idea that I really only grasp as it grows with the picture.
Henri Matisse
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Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.
Henri Matisse
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For my part I have never avoided the influence of others. I would have considered it cowardice and a lack of sincerity toward myself.
Henri Matisse
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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.
Henri Matisse
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All my efforts go into creating an art that can be understood by everyone.
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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You must forget all your theories, all your ideas before the subject. What part of these is really your own will be expressed in your expression of the emotion awakened in you by the subject.
Henri Matisse
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The energy within you is stronger than ever for being held back, compressed, and said No to.
Henri Matisse
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I was driven on by.. A force which I see today as something alien to my normal life... so I have been no more than a medium as it were.
Henri Matisse
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Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance.
Henri Matisse