Quotes from Robert Henri

The object of painting a picture is-however unreasonable that may sound... The object which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. The picture is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of that state.

Do not let the fact that things are not made for you, that conditions are not as they should be, stop you. Go on anyway. Everything depends on those who go on anyway.

It is a creation of your own mind, not the model. The model is dependent on your idea of her. Your canvas should be a thing created under the influence of her.

Pictures tell the story of actual impulse in the artist—or the lack of it.

It is an effort to stop evolution, to hold things back to the plane of your judgment. It is a check on a great adventure of human life. It is negative to the idea that youth should go forward. It is for the coming generation to judge you, not for you to judge it. So it must happen, whether you will it or not.

If I could see and really understand the essence of the life that is right around me I could with even such technique as I now command make masterpieces.

Don't ask for a criticism until you are sure you can't give it yourself. Then you will be in a fine state to receive it.

There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented.

Remember that your model is not against space but in it.

Do not worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it if you wanted to.

Do not worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to.

The effect of brilliancy is to be obtained principally from the oppositions of cool colors with warm colors, and the oppositions of grave colors with bright colors. If all the colors are bright there is no brightness.

The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence... We make our discoveries while in the state because then we are clear-sighted.

After all, the goal is not making art. It is living a life. Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art.

Life is finding yourself. It is a spirit development.

In great art there is no beginning and end in point of time. All time is comprehended.

There is only one reason for art in America, and that is that the people of America learn the means of expressing themselves in their own time, and their own land.

Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.

It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.

There are pictures that manifest education and there are pictures that manifest love.

In a tree there is a spirit of life, a spirit of growth and a spirit of holding its head up.

Renoir had not only a great interest in human character, in human feeling, but had also a great love for the people he painted.

Art appreciation, like love, cannot be done by proxy.

I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.