Quotes from Luis Barragan

A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy.

Life deprived of beauty is not worthy of being called human.

All architecture, which does not express serenity, fails in its spiritual mission. Thus, it has been a mistake to abandon the shelter of walls for the inclemency of large areas of glass.

I don't divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one.

I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.

Beauty is the oracle that speaks to us all.

Only in intimate communion with solitude may man find himself. Solitude is good company and my architecture is not for those who fear or shun it.

Art is made by the alone for the alone.

Architecture is a art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this environment produces well being.

The Art of Seeing. It is essential to an architect to know how to see: I mean, to see in such a way that the vision is not overpowered by rational analysis.

It is essential to an architect to know how to see: I mean to see in such a way that the vision is not overpowered by rational analysis.

A perfect garden, no matter its size, should enclose nothing less than the entire Universe.

Beauty is the oracle that speaks to us all.

Art is made by the alone for the alone.

Architecture is an art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this enviroment produces well being.

I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.

Architects should make houses into gardens, and gardens into houses.

Art is memory's mise-en-scene.

Life deprived of beauty is not worthy of being called human.

My house is my refuge, an emotional piece of architecture, not a cold piece of convenience.

In the creation of a garden, the architect invites the partnership of the Kingdom of Nature. In a beautiful garden the majesty of nature is ever present, but it is nature reduced to human proportions and thus transformed into the most efficient haven against the aggressiveness of contemporary life.

The Art of Seeing. It is essential to an architect to know how to see: I mean, to see in such a way that the vision is not overpowered by rational analysis.

Don't ask me about this building or that one, don't look at what I do, see what I see.

I believe that architects should design gardens to be used, as much as the houses they build, to develop a sense of beauty and the taste and inclination toward the fine arts and other spiritual values.