Henri Matisse Quotes

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.

I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

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.

Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.

Time extracts various values from a painter's work.

When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.

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.

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.

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.

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.

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.

I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.

With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.

I have been no more than a medium, as it were.

In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature.

You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking of a tightrope.

A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.