Quotes from Henri Matisse

It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.

What interests me most is neither still life nor landscape, but the human figure. It is through it that I best succeed in expressing the almost religious feeling I have towards life.

We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire universe.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

Nothing can be accomplished without love.

Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while working.

When you're out of willpower, you can call on stubbornness.

Si je crois en Dieu? Oui, quand je travaille. Quand je suis soumis et modeste, je me sens tellement aidé par quelqu'un qui me fait faire des choses qui me surpassent.

The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his nature; the shock, with the original reaction.

Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.

Siempre hay flores para aquellos que desean verlas.