Art Quotes

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

Art is man’s nature; nature is God’s art.

Chagall is my favorite pupil, and what I like about him is that after listening attentively to my lessons he takes his paints and brushes and does something absolutely different from what I have told him.

Everyone wants an artist on the wall or on the shelf, but nobody wants him in the house.

A vandal is somebody who throws a brick through a window. An artist is somebody who paints a picture on that window. A great artist is somebody who paints a picture on the window and then throws a brick through it.

Do not imagine that Art is something which is designed to give gentle uplift and self-confidence. Art is not a brassiere. At least, not in the English sense. But do not forget that brassiere is the French word for life-jacket.

Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.

The essence of all art is having pleasure giving pleasure.

True art selects and paraphrases, but seldom gives a verbatim translation.

Art distills sensation and embodies it with enhanced meaning in memorable form – or else it is not art.