Claude Monet Quotes about Painting

The real subject of every painting is light.

I would advise young artists to paint as they can, as long as they can, without being afraid of painting badly.

Critic asks: 'And what, sir, is the subject matter of that painting?' - 'The subject matter, my dear good fellow, is the light.

I am good at only two things, and those are gardening and painting.

I am very depressed and deeply disgusted with painting. It is really a continual torture.

No one but myself knows the anxiety I go through and the trouble I give myself to finish paintings which do not satisfy me and seem to please so very few others.

I'm never finished with my paintings; the further I get, the more I seek the impossible and the more powerless I feel.

No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.

I do what I can to convey what I experience before nature and most often, in order to succeed in conveying what I feel, I totally forget the most elementary rules of painting, if they exist that is.

I haven't many years left ahead of me and I must devote all my time to painting, in the hope of achieving something worthwhile in the end, something if possible that will satisfy me.

Apart from painting and gardening, I'm not good at anything.

Ninety per cent of the theory of Impressionist painting is in . . . Ruskin's Elements.

What can be said about a man who is interested in nothing but his painting? It's a pity if a man can only interest himself in one thing. But I can't do any thing else. I have only one interest.

I'm working hard with more determination than ever. My success at the Salon led to my selling several paintings and since your absence I have made 800 francs; I hope, when I have contracts with more dealers, it will be better still.

While adding the finishing touches to a painting might appear insignificant, it is much harder to do than one might suppose.

I still have a lot of pleasure doing them, but as time goes by I come to appreciate more clearly which paintings are good and which should be discarded.

I think only of my painting, and if I were to drop it, I think I'd go crazy.

I know well enough in advance that you'll find my paintings perfect. I know that if they are exhibited they'll be a great success, but I couldn't be more indifferent to it since I know they are bad, I'm certain of it.