Pierre-Auguste Renoir Quotes about Art

Art is about emotion; if art needs to be explained it is no longer art.

To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.

One must from time to time attempt things that are beyond one's capacity.

Why shouldn’t art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.

Regularity, order, desire for perfection destroy art. Irregularity is the basis of all art.

The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself, carry you away. It is the means by which the artist conveys his passion; it is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion.

There are two indices of genuine art: it is inimitable and it is ineffable.

Shall I tell you what I think are the two qualities of a work of art? First, it must be indescribable, and second, it must be inimitable.

The modern architect is, generally speaking, art's greatest enemy.

How is it that in the so-called barbarian ages art was understood, whereas in our age of progress exactly the opposite is true?

"The work of art must seize upon you...carry you away."

He bores me. He ought to have stuck to his flying machine. [On Leonardo Da Vinci]

If it [dabbling in art] didn't amuse me, I beg you to believe that I wouldn't do it.

And if out of a million visitors there is even one to whom art means something, that is enough to justify museums.

In painting, as in the other arts, there's not a single process, no matter how insignificant, which can be reasonably made into a formula. You come to nature with your theories, and she knocks them all flat.

You come to nature with all her theories, and she knocks them all flat.