"The essence of all art is having pleasure giving pleasure." ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
In every artist there is poetry. In every human being there is the poetic element. We know, we feel, we believe. ~ Ernst Haas
Scratch an artist and you surprise a child. ~ James Gibbons Huneker, Fearless Creating
Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. ~ Keith Haring
Art when really understood is the province of every human being. It is simply a question of doing things, anything, well. It is not an outside, extra thing. ~ Robert Henri, Art Spirit
My drawing began as a way to count my blessings. To study, capture, catalog the things that, despite it all, make my life rich. ~ Danny Gregory
Even Michelangelo on his deathbed thought he’d done nothing to ennoble art. He wanted to destroy his work—the Pieta! And this from the greatest artist who ever lived. Of course I am not comparing my work to Michelangelo’s. But this eternal dissatisfaction of the artist is what I was talking about. ~ John Huston, American Heritage, April/May 1992
Painting is with me but another word for feeling. ~ John Constable
A work of art is a corner of creation seen through a temperament. ~ Emile Zola
I'm working in my mind. ~ Jasper Johns
Art owes nothing to justification. ~ Christo