Jean Cocteau Quotes

For the artist, drawing is discovery. And that is not just a slick phrase; it is quite literally true.

Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms.

Artists recognize other artists as soon as the pencil begins to move.

You know a trillion times more about art than me. But I’ve learned that it isn’t necessary to know all that much. You just make what you wanna see, right? It’s a game, right? It’s like being paid for dreaming.

That's the most important thing in art: to be aware, pay attention, be inspired - but it should come ultimately from you.

If a composer could state in words what being a composer means, he would no longer need to be a composer.

The process must be concealed from - non-existent for - the photographer, who by definition need think of the art in the taking and not in the making photographs... In short, all that should be necessary to get a good picture is to take a good picture.

Artists can no more speak about their work, than plants can speak about horticulture.

For me, drawing is a question of death and life. Every day I draw, I write, I do something.

It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.

I've always felt that there's a point where a piece seems to be alive, that is, living. And that's the point where I know the composition is finished.

The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box.

Artists need to express.

Painting is the passage from the chaos of the emotions to the order of the possible.

The ability to make somebody feel something: that's art. However you look at it, whether you're an author, a painter, a singer, a rapper, a spoken-word artist - art.

Preliminary drawings or sketches in oil or pastel often have an immediacy and emotional appeal far greater than the final canvas.

You don't see artists sitting around a lot, talking about ideology. They find out what they believe, and what they're doing, by doing it.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Fine artists reflect, and then they act. Fashion photographers - we act, and then we reflect.

My painting does not come from the easel.

No, I never had any dreams. The process of art is a dream in itself. The artist just doesn't... you work out something. It's yours. You don't have to go to sleep to do that. You do that on the canvas.

Making art is different for everyone.

Creativity runs on automatic, no matter what's happening in other parts of my life. I can't help myself. It's been in me, and it evolves in me over the years. It's a condition in me.