Anselm Kiefer Quotes

The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circumstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom, even temporarily.

Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.

I'm all about freedom in art. I'm from Texas, so when someone tells you which way to ride your horse, you think 'I'll just go to a different ranch. You guys are riding it backwards anyway.

I am here on Earth to express myself, and the many media of art are my magic carpets that allow me the freedom to do so.

Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.

The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

Look. Art knows no prejudice, art knows no boundaries, art doesn't really have judgement in it's purest form. So just go, just go.

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit.

To understand Occupy Wall Street, you have to understand artists. Art is freedom - freedom of expression - and its message has resonated through society for centuries.

I can only hope that the American people who have often shown their liking for my work as a painter, realizing that their access to it is hindered by institutional and governmental control, will understand the compelling motives for my gift.

Art is freedom. If we don't have that element, we don't feel human anymore. Art is not decoration or a function. Before all that, art is art. This connection to meaning - our inner, intuitive knowledge - is something.

Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.

I am making art. It's not a job that you've gotta show up to and fill in your slot. This is a dream come true. You get the opportunity to say something, to make a piece of art and hang it on the wall forever. Sometimes you're gonna have to take your time.

To discover the mode of life or of art whereby my spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom.

An artist in my view is always afraid of extremists; he is always afraid of those who claim to have found the ultimate solution to any question.

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. Without the freedom to challenge, even to satirize all orthodoxies, it ceases to exist. Language and the imagination cannot be imprisoned, or art will die, and with it, a little of what makes us human.

There is something very special about this part of the world [U.S], which is the openness and the curiosity and the lack of prejudice and the lack of generally accepted norms as to what art should be and how an artist's career should go and all that.

I feel like the internet has encouraged people to look into things and try to find issuesthat because people have a lot of opinions. I think it's really important to encourage artistic freedom. I think if you inhibit that, that could be dangerous.

Art like life, should be free, since both are experimental.

One may do whatever one likes. In art, the only thing is, to make sure that one does like it.

It present to allow me to ask myself questions about what I'm doing. I think that's what visual art does - it either reminds you of something or allows you to question something. I don't know why Robert Motherwell; I love so many different artists.

Art is about freedom of expression, and should not be molded to fit any propaganda or lofty ideal.

There are so many rules in the art world. I don't like rules and I break them all the time. I don't care if people think I'm overexposed. What I care about is if I'm going to run out of energy. Overexposure is only a problem if you are drained of energy and cannot come up with new ideas. Every artist has to recognize that and know when to stop for a moment.