Roger Fry

"In Art we know nothing for certain."

"Only those who have experienced the elation and despair which comes from the attempt to express their feelings about vision in oil paint will know that it is impossible to speak with complete impartiality about art."

"A work of art is a work of art, and nothing else, personal considerations count for nothing."

"It was inevitable that artists should turn around and question the validity of the fundamental assumption that art aimed at representation; and the moment the question was fairly posed it became clear the pseudo scientific assumption that fidelity to appearance was the measure of art had no logical foundation."

"Art is an expression and stimulus to the imaginative life rather than a copy of actual life. Art appreciates emotion in and for itself. The artist, is the most constantly observant of his surroundings and the least affected by their intrinsic aesthetic value. As he contemplates a particular field of vision the aesthetically chaotic and accidental conjunction of forms and colours begin to crystallize into a harmony."

"As I understand it, art is one of the chief organs of what, for want of a better word, I must call the spiritual life."

"There is no difference between landscapes and other subjects: in general in painting I try to express the emotions that the contemplation of the form produces in me."

"My paintings do no more than give an idea of my wanderings in search of a guiding principle in art"

"I fancy all distinctively poetical language ought to be banned and the poetry come out of the quality of the idea and the intensity or passion with which it is expressed."