Robert Henri Quotes

The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.

When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible.

Paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.

There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual- become clairvoyant. We reach then into reality. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. It is in the nature of all people to have these experiences; but in our time and under the conditions of our lives, it is only a rare few who are able to continue in the experience and find expression for it.

Art cannot be separated from life. It is the expression of the greatest need of which life is capable, and we value art not because of the skilled product, but because of its revelation of a life's experience.

Art after all is but an extension of language to the expression of sensations too subtle for words.

Work always as if you were a master, expect from yourself a masterpiece.

There is weakness in pretending to know more than you know or in stating less than you know.

No work of Art is really ever finished. They only stop at good places.

We are not here to do what has already been done.

Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.

Find out what you really like if you can. Find out what is really important to you. Then sing your song. You will have something to sing about and your whole heart will be in the singing.

The artist should be intoxicated with the idea of the thing he wants to express.

Do not let the fact that things are not made for you, that conditions are not as they should be stop you. Go on anyway. Everything depends on those who go on anyway.

An artist must first of all respond to his subject, he must be filled with emotion toward that subject and then he must make his technique so sincere, so translucent that it may be forgotten, the value of the subject shining through it.

I paint for the sole purpose of magnifying the privilege of being alive.

Do not worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to.

Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you.

A picture should be the expression of the will of the painter.

Personal experimentation is revealing, and once you get into it, immensely engaging.

There is nothing more entertaining than to have a frank talk with yourself. Few do it-frankly. Educating yourself is getting acquainted with yourself.

I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.

Those who cannot begin do not finish.

What we need is more sense of the wonder of life and less of this business of making a picture.

The work of the art student is no light matter. Few have the courage and stamina to think it through. You have to make up your mind to be alone in many ways. We like sympathy and we like to be in company. It is easier than going it alone. But alone one gets acquainted with himself, grows up and on, not stopping with the crowd. It costs to do this. If you succeed somewhat you may have to pay for it as well as enjoy it all your life.