Mario Botta Quotes

In all my works, light is an important controlling factor.

I think people underestimate the importance of lighting - layers of lighting, not just one light. I do a lighting seminar where I take a $300-a-yard fabric and a $3-a-yard fabric. I show what lighting can do to either one.

Lighting is everything in a color.

The most awful museums are in China. They have magnificent stuff on display and just the worst way of displaying it. They just don't spend money on lighting and installation.

My home has to feel airy and bright with natural light. I don't switch on lamps until it is literally black outside.

Daylight reveals color; artificial light drains it.

Almost all institutions own a lot more art than they can ever show, much of it revealing for its timeliness, genius, or sheer weirdness.

We are similar to a museum. My function is to present old masterpieces in modern frames.

Higher ceilings allow the use indirect lighting, which is much healthier and reduces glare.

I always loved bulbs, and I use light a lot in my shows. In my office in Paris, I have 300 bulbs.

I'm a big believer of daylight in the studio.

Owners of valuable works of art don't give to institutions that don't provide good air conditioning and have good shows.

People don't realize that lighting can change the whole look of a place and the feel.

I believe in naturalistic lighting, which isn't to say natural light.

The new light above my table is a great improvement. With all this darkness around me I feel less alone. (Pause.) In a way. (Pause.) I love to get up and move about in it, then back here to... (hesitates) ...me. (Pause.)

The Atlas belongs to the Lenbachhaus in Munich - it's long since ceased to belong to me. Occasionally I run across it somewhere, and I think it's interesting because it looks different each time.

Proper lighting is everything, Julianna.

The art and architecture of the past that we know is that which remains. The best is that which remains where it was painted, placed or built. Most of the art of the past that could be moved was taken by conquerors. Almost all recent art is conquered as soon as it's made, since it's first shown for sale and once sold is exhibited as foreign in the alien museums. The public has no idea of art other than that it is something portable that can be bought. There is no constructive effort; there is no cooperative effort. This situation is primitive in relation to a few earlier and better times.

Objects damage pictures.

Restoration is a skilled profession. You might even call it an art in its own right, except that it is frowned on to be original. First rule of restoration: follow the intention of the artist. Never try to improve on him.

Out-of-doors there is a greater variety of light than in the studio, where the light is always the same. But that is just the trouble; one is carried away by the light, and besides, one can't see what one is doing.

Available light is any damn light that is available!

In the back of every painting there's an entire universe that makes it possible for the painting to be there: an army of conservators, technicians, people who maintain these things, the market.

As far as paintings go, I always think about what it's like to move them and hang them up and hope they don't drop. To me, that seems like a big gamble, but that comes from me not being a painter.