Art has been essential to human culture and society for thousands of years. It’s an expressive form of communication that transcends language, time, and geography barriers, allowing us to share emotions, perspectives, and visions of the world. Whether you’re an artist, an art lover, or simply someone who appreciates the power of a beautiful piece, there’s a universal language in art that speaks to us all.
Today, I’m thrilled to share a collection of 100 thought-provoking and inspiring quotes about art. From Picasso to Oscar Wilde, these words of wisdom will give you a deeper insight into the mysterious world of art and inspire your creative journey.
Table of Contents
These quotes touch on the nature of art, the creation process and the impact art has on our lives and our world. They are affirmations, observations, and revelations from some of history’s greatest minds and most creative individuals. Dive in and let these words immerse you in the vast ocean of human creativity and expression.
100 Great Quotes About Art
A Compilation Of A Hundred Sayings And Insights About The Essence And Influence Of Art
- “Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas
- “Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Every artist dips his brush in his soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.” – Henry Ward Beecher.
- “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Every artist writes his own autobiography.” – Havelock Ellis
- “Art is not a thing, it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” – Twyla Tharp
- “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton.
- “Art is not freedom from discipline, but disciplined freedom.” – John F. Kennedy
- “Art is the highest form of hope.” – Gerhard Richter
- “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” – Banksy
- “Art speaks where words are unable to explain.” – Threadless Artist Mathiole
- “Art doesn’t have to be pretty. It has to be meaningful.” – Duane Hanson
- “Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” – Theodore Dreiser
- “Art is to console those who are broken by life.” – Vincent Van Gogh
- “Art is not a handicraft; it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Art is the journey of a free soul.” – Alev Oguz
- “Every human is an artist.” – Don Miguel Ruiz
- “Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” – René Magritte.
- “To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore
- “Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” – Mark Rothko
- “Art is the signature of civilizations.” – Beverly Sills
- “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” – Bertolt Brecht
- “The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” – Neil Gaiman
- “Art is the daughter of freedom.” – Friedrich Schiller
- “Great art picks up where nature ends.” – Marc Chagall
- “Art is the proper task of life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” – Émile Zola
- “In art as in love, instinct is enough.” – Anatole France
- “Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.” – Albert Einstein
- “Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief.” – U2, “The Fly”
- “Art is a line around your thoughts.” – Gustav Klimt
- “Art is not a thing; it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.” – Anselm Kiefer
- “Art is a revolt against fate.” – Andre Malraux
- “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle.
- “Art must be life — it must belong to everybody.” – Marina Abramovic
- “Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.” – John Ruskin
- “Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.” – Khalil Gibran
- “Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” – Theodore Dreiser
- “Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.” – Theodor W. Adorno
- “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” – Paul Klee
- “Art is the triumph over chaos.” – John Cheever
- “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better.” – André Gide.
- “Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” – Oscar Wilde.
- “Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Art is a harmony parallel with nature.” – Paul Cezanne
- “Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mothers face.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.” – Jean-Luc Godard
- “Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.” – Agnes Martin
- “Art, freedom, and creativity will change society faster than politics.” – Victor Pinchuk
- “Art is man’s challenge to time, his rebuke to chaos; the protest will survive neither the triumph of fire nor the finality of ice — but it is better than the silence of consent.” – Dr. Idel Dreimer
- “Art does not imitate, but interpret.” – Giuseppe Mazzini
- “Art is either revolution or plagiarism.” – Paul Gauguin
- “Art is the perpetual motion of illusion.” – Bob Dylan
- “Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite — getting something down.” – Julia Cameron
- “Art is the supreme task and the truly metaphysical activity in this life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Art is not a thing; it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time.” – Jean-Michel Basquiat
- “Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” – Stephen Sondheim
- “Art is the window to man’s soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.” – Claudia Johnson
- “Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Art is not the possession of the few who are recognized writers, painters, musicians; it is the authentic expression of any and all individuality.” – John Dewey
- “Art is a wound turned into light.” – Georges Braque
- “The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.” – William Faulkner
- “Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers – and never succeeding.” – Gian Carlo Menotti
- “Art must destroy violence, only it can do it.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Art is my life and my life is art.” – Yoko Ono
- “Art is like a border of flowers along the course of civilization.” – Lincoln Steffens.
- “Art is a revolt against fate.” – Andre Malraux
- “The work of art is a scream of freedom.” – Christo
- “Art is the beginning of vision into the realm of eternal life.” – Lawren Harris
- “Art is not freedom from discipline, but disciplined freedom.” – John F. Kennedy
- “The purpose of art is not a rarified, intellectual distillate—it is life, intensified, brilliant life.” – Alain Arias-Misson
- “Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Art is the perpetual motion of illusion.” – Bob Dylan
- “Art is the signature of civilizations.” – Beverly Sills
- “Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” – Stephen Sondheim
- “Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.” – Theodor Adorno
- “Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Art is a wound turned into light.” – Georges Braque
- “Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” – Amy Lowell
- “Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” – Theodore Dreiser
- “Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.” – William Blake
- “Art is a harmony parallel with nature.” – Paul Cezanne
- “Art is the highest form of hope.” – Gerhard Richter
- “Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor.” – Henry Kissinger
- “Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.” – Jean Cocteau
- “Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.” – Modest Mussorgsky
- “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – André Gide
- “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Art is either a plagiarist or a revolutionist.” – Paul Gauguin
- “Art is the most intense mode of Individualism that the world has known.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.” – Albert Einstein
- “The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” – Michelangelo
These 100 quotes remind us of art’s magic in our lives. Whether we create art or admire it, its power to inspire, challenge, and stir emotions is undeniable.
These words of wisdom reflect art’s incredible journey, a journey not just about the final piece but about the creation process itself.
So, let’s continue to appreciate, create, and find joy in the beauty of art. After all, as the saying goes, ‘Art isn’t what you see, but what you make others see.
Anita Louise Art is dedicated to art education, great artists, and inspiring others to find and create their art. We love art that uplifts and inspires. #ArtToMakeYouSmile! #ArtToMakeYouHappy!
If you want to see any of my art, you can find out more by clicking here. If you are interested in what inspires me and my paintings, you can discover more by clicking here.
We have a free newsletter and would love you to be part of our community; you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here. If you have any questions, I would be happy to talk to you. You can reach me, Anita, by clicking here.
Subscribe to our Anita Louise Art YouTube Channel with great videos and information by clicking here.
Join us for our podcast “5 Minutes With Art.” Spend just 5 minutes a week with us to discover and learn about great art and artists. You can find out more about our podcast by clicking here.
Related Questions
Grandma Moses Sold Her First Painting At Age 79 – And Other Facts
Grandma Moses started painting at age 78 and sold her first paintings at 79. She lived to be 101 years old, and throughout that time, she was a prolific painter that painted over 1500 different paintings. She never had the opportunity to attend art school, so she was a completely self-taught painter.
By clicking here, you can learn more by reading Grandma Moses Sold Her First Painting At Age 79 – And Other Facts.
Art And History – Understanding Our Past
When we study art, it helps us understand and gives us clues to the past. As we see what the artist has painted, we can piece together what life was like during that time in history. Art also helps us better understand the cultures and people who once lived and their life.
You can discover more by reading Art and History – Understanding Our Past by clicking here.
Am I Too Old To Start Oil Painting?
You are never too old to learn to oil paint. You can start to oil paint at any age. If Grandma Moses could learn to paint at age 78, then she set an example for us all – that you are never too old to learn to paint. There are some advantages to learning to paint when you are older vs. younger.
By clicking here, you can discover more by reading Am I Too Old To Start Oil Painting?.
