Henri Matisse Work Quotations

A distinction is made between painters who work directly from nature and those who work purely from imagination. Personally, I think neither of these methods must be preferred to the exclusion of the other. Both may be used in turn by the same indivi

I did my sculpture as a painter. I did not work as a sculptor.

One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work.

I do not repudiate any of my paintings but there isn't one of them that I would not redo differently, if I had it to redo. My destination is always the same but I work out a different route to get there.

After a half-century of hard work and reflection the wall is still there.

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

Those who work in a preconceived style, deliberately turning their backs on nature, miss the truth. An artist must recognize, when he is reasoning, that his picture is an artifice; but when he is painting, he should feel that he has copied nature. An