Henri Matisse Quotes

Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.

If the whole is to be Art, the parts must not try to be.

In some exquisite critical hints on "Eurythmy," Goethe remarks, "that the best composition in pictures is that which, observing the most delicate laws of harmony, so arranges the objects that they by their position tell their own story." And the rule thus applied to composition in painting applies no less to composition in literature.

And harmony means that the relationship between all the elements used in a composition is balanced, is good.

Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.

For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.

I cry out for order and find it only in art.

Extreme complication is contrary to art.

It's really only all about music. It's not like a big rocket scientist kind of philosophy or anything.

What's really important is to simplify. The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could do one thing: get rid of the extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, you are more likely to reach the viewer.

It is not altogether wrong to say that there is no such thing as a bad photograph - only less interesting, less relevant, less mysterious ones.

Proportion is that agreeable harmony between the several parts of a building, which is the result of a just and regular agreement of them with each other; the height to the width, this to the length, and each of these to the whole.

The best artists know what to leave out.

Still follow sense, of ev'ry art the soul, Parts answering parts shall slide into a whole.

The best pictures differentiate themselves by nuances...a tiny relationship - either a harmony or a disharmony - that creates a picture.

There are an awful lot of people in the world and it's going to be terribly hard to photograph all of them... It was my teacher Lisette Model who finally made it clear to me that the more specific you are, the more general it will be.

One of the most significant design principles is to omit the unimportant in order to emphasize the important.

Expression, sentiment, truth to nature, are essential: but all those are not enough. I never care to look at a picture again, if it be ill composed; and if well composed I can hardly leave off looking at it.

In both metaphysics and art, honesty is the best policy. Keep it clean.

I soon learned to scent out that which was able to lead to fundamentals and to turn aside from everything else, from the multitude of things which clutter up the mind and divert it from the essential.

Eliminate the unnecessary and focus on the substance.

My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.

Art is about eliminating almost everything in order to focus on the thing that you need to talk about.

It's got to do with the contention between content and form. Invariably that's what's responsible for its energies, its tensions, its being interesting or not.

In a successful painting everything is integral - all the parts belong to the whole. If you remove an aspect or element you are removing its wholeness.