Quotes By Henri Matisse

I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

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.

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

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

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.

Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

Exactitude is not truth.

My curves are not crazy.

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.

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.

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.

A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.

It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.

I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.

Creativity takes courage.

I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.

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

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

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

In love, the one who runs away is the winner.

Jazz is rhythm and meaning.

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

A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn't so much the worse for you.

Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.

I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.

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

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.

Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.

With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.