There is nothing in all the world more beautiful or significant of the laws of the universe than the nude human body.
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.
The man who has honesty, integrity, the love of inquiry, the desire to see beyond, is ready to appreciate good art.
The good thing about painting from memory is that so much is forgotten.
Your style is the way you talk in paint.
Art need not be intended. It comes inevitably as the tree from the root, the branch from the trunk, the blossom from the twig. None of these forget the present in looking backward or forward. They are occupied wholly with the fulfillment of their own existence.
The sketch hunter moves through life as he finds it, not passing negligently the things he loves, but stopping to know them, and to note them down in the shorthand of his sketchbook.
You can do anything you want to do. What is rare is this actual wanting to do a specific thing: wanting it so much that you are practically blind to all other things, that nothing else will satisfy you.
There has never been a painting that was more beautiful than nature. The model does not unfold herself to you, you must rise to her. She should be the inspiration for your painting. No man has ever over-appreciated a human being.
There are mighty few people who think what they think they think.
Do whatever you do intensely.
Good composition is like a suspension bridge - each line adds strength and takes none away.
A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.
Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. All the past can help you.
Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.
Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.
I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.
It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.
The world will see many fashions of art and most of the world will follow the fashions and make none. These cults - these 'movements' - are absolutely necessary, or at any rate their causes are, for somewhere in their centres are the ones who bear the Idea, the ones who have questioned, 'But what do I think?' and 'How shall I say it best?
I am interested in the size of your intention. It is better to overstate the important than to understate it.
The real artist's work is a surprise to himself.
All real works of art look as though they were done in joy.
There is nothing more entertaining than to have a frank talk with yourself. Few do it-frankly. Educating yourself is getting acquainted with yourself.
There is no art without contemplation.
Art tends toward balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living – very good things for anyone to be interested in.
Keep a bad drawing until by study you have found out why it is bad.
Be a warhorse for work and enjoy even the struggle against defeat.
If the artist's will is not strong he will see all kinds of unessential things.
Through art, mysterious bonds of understanding and of knowledge are established among men. They are the bonds of a great Brotherhood. Those who are of the Brotherhood know each other, and time and space cannot separate them.
Art is, after all, only a trace – like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.
Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture.
Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them.
Life is finding yourself. It is a spirit development.
If you do not act on a suggestion at first, you grow dull to its message.
Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher.
