A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy.
When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring
people
God always ignores the present perfection for the ultimate perfection.
I assure you no art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is
the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration,
spontaneity, temperament -- temperament is the word -- I know nothing.
“And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days”
“Just because nobody complains doesn't mean all parachutes are perfect.”
To accomplish the perfect perfection, a little imperfection helps.
It is very good to copy what one sees; it is much better to draw what
you can't see any more but is in your memory. It is a transformation in
which imagination and memory work together. You only reproduce what
struck you, that is to say the necessary.
We were created to look at one another, weren't we?
Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.
You are perfect, Avery. Just like you are, flaws and everything
I should like to be famous and unknown.
It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious -- to cut
out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own
innocence of personality -- he must once more sink himself in solitude.
There is too much talk and gossip; pictures are apparently made, like
stock-market prices, by competition of people eager for profit; in order
to do anything at all we need (so to speak) the wit and ideas of our
neighbors as much as the businessmen need the funds of others to win on
the market. All this traffic sharpens our intelligence and falsifies our
judgment.
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be
contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.”
“A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for
the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the
world. It was a perfect act.”
You must aim high, not in what you are going to do at some future date,
but in what you are going to make yourself do to-day. Otherwise,
working is just a waste of time
I put it (a still life of a pear, made by Manet, ed.) there (on the
wall, next to Ingres' Jupiter, ed.), for a pear like that would
overthrow any god.
“Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.”
Art critic! Is that a profession? When I think we are stupid enough, we
painters, to solicit those people's compliments and to put ourselves
into their hands! What shame! Should we even accept that they talk about
our work?
What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming.
There is a kind of success that is indistinguishable from panic.
