Henri Matisse
  • I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.

  • Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.

  • Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.

  • What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.

  • Creativity takes courage.