"Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive; the place occupied by my figures, the empty space around them, the proportions, everything has its share. Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the diverse elements at the painter's command to express his feelings. In a picture every part will be visible and will play its appointed role, whether it be principal or secondary. Everything that is not useful in the picture is, it follows, harmful. A work of art must be harmonious in its entirety: any superfluous detail would replace some other essential detail in the mind of the spectator."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 36
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French artist. Particularly known for his striking use of colour, Matisse is one of the very few indisputable giants of modern art, alongside Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky.
70 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Henri Matisse →
Related Quotes
"I see with horror that the 'Salon Automne' is looming, for I haven't got, and shan't have, all I meant to be able to …"
"Rules have no existence outside of individuals: otherwise a good professor would be as great a genius as Racine."
"Underlying this succession of moments which constitutes the superficial existence of beings and things, and which is …"
"For me all is in the conception. I must therefore have a clear vision of the whole from the beginning."
"I simply try to put down colours which render my sensation."
"There is an impelling proportion of tones that may lead me to change the shape of a figure or to transform my composi…"
"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or disturbing subject matter, an ar…"
"The simplest means are those which best enable an artist to express himself. His means of expression must derive almo…"
"Suppose I want to paint a woman's body: first of all I imbue it with grace and charm, but I know that I must give som…"
"The artist begins with a vision — a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage."