A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject-matter.
"Artists on Art - from the 14th - 20th centuries". Book edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, London, p. 413, 'Notes d'un Peintre' (Notes of a Painter), 1972.
![A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject-matter.](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/henri-matisse/a-work-of-art-must-carry-in-itself-its-complete-significance-and-impose-it-upon-the-beholder-even-before-he.jpg)