Rembrandt van Rijn
Greatest Dutch painter, master of light and shadow
Most quoted
"Of course you will say that I ought to be practical and ought to try and paint the way they want me to paint. Well, I will tell you a secret. I have tried and tried very hard, but I can’t do it. I just can’t do it! And that is why I am just a little crazy."
— from Attributed saying
"I have three regrets in my life: I regret that I have not learned to play the violin, I regret that I have not learned to speak French, and I regret that I have not taken more time to enjoy life."
— from Attributed saying
"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web."
— from Attributed saying (Picasso)
All quotes by Rembrandt van Rijn (319)
An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them.
The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.
A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.
The artist’s feeling is his law.
Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations.
The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.
Great art picks up where nature ends.
In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.
The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
Art is not a thing; it is a way.
The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.
Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.
Art is the most beautiful of all lies.
Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail.
The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.
Contemporaries of Rembrandt van Rijn
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669).