Quotes from Henri Matisse

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

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

I'm growing old, I delight in the past.

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

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 on a tightrope.

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.

Color was not given to us in order that we should imitate Nature. It was given to us so that we can express our emotions.

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.

There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look.

I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some kind of a Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.

Don't try to be original. Be simple. Be good technically, and if there is something in you, it will come out.

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

A young painter who cannot liberate himself from the influence of past generations is digging his own grave.

Jazz is rhythm and meaning.

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.

My curves are not crazy.

I have simply wished to assert the reasoned and independent feeling of my own individuality within a total knowledge of tradition.

The artist begins with a vision - a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage.

The artist has to look at life as he did when he was a child. If he loses that faculty, he cannot express himself in an original, that is, a personal way.

When I started to paint I felt transported into a kind of paradise... In everyday life I was usually bored and vexed... Starting to paint I felt gloriously free.

It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.

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.

What interests me most is neither still life nor landscape, but the human figure.

From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.