Quotes from Edward Hopper

The only real influence I've ever had is myself.

If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint

Maybe I am not very human - what I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.

I have tried to present my sensations in what is the most congenial and impressive form possible to me.

Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature's phenomena before it can again become great.

The only real influence I've ever had was myself.

There will be, I think, an attempt to grasp again the surprise and accidents of nature and a more intimate and sympathetic study of its moods, together with a renewed wonder and humility on the part of such as are still capable of these basic reactions.

I find in working always the disturbing intrusion of elements not a part of my most interested vision, and the inevitable obliteration and replacement of this vision by the work itself as it proceeds.

Well, I have a very simple method of painting.

Well, I've always been interested in approaching a big city in a train, and I can't exactly describe the sensations, but they're entirely human and perhaps have nothing to do with aesthetics.

I have tried to present my sensations in what is the most congenial and impressive form possible to me.

I trust Winsor and Newton and I paint directly upon it.

There is a sort of elation about sunlight on the upper part of a house.

I find linseed oil and white lead the most satisfactory mediums.

The question of the value of nationality in art is perhaps unsolvable.

More of me comes out when I improvise.

The only quality that endures in art is a personal vision of the world. Methods are transient: personality is enduring.

In general it can be said that a nation's art is greatest when it most reflects the character of its people.

In its most limited sense, modern, art would seem to concern itself only with the technical innovations of the period.

If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.

The only real influence I've ever had is myself.

After all, we are not French and never can be, and any attempt to be so is to deny our inheritance and to try to impose upon ourselves a character that can be nothing but a veneer upon the surface.

It's (the lack of communication between the people in his paintings, ed.) probably a reflection of my own, if I may say, loneliness. I don't know. It could be the whole human condition.

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.