Wassily Kandinsky

Every work of art is the child of its time, often it is the mother of our emotions.

Color is a means of exerting a direct influence upon the soul. Color is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano with its many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.

The artist must have something to say, for his task is not to master form but to arrange form to express content.

Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and... stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to 'walk about' in a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?

The artist is born to a life of labor and pain.

The artist must be blind to 'recognized' or 'unrecognized' form, deaf to the teachings of his time or the desires of his public. His open eyes must be directed to his inner life and his ears to the voice of inner necessity. Then he will seize all the means of expression from the outer world.

The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct is its appeal.

The spirit, like the body, can be trained and strengthened.

The soul is often compared to a piano, and the artist to the hand that plays it.

The work of art is a spiritual expression.

The artist must be free to express himself in any form he chooses.

The artist must be a prophet, a seer, a visionary.

The artist must create a new world, a world of the spirit.

The artist must be a revolutionary, a rebel against the old order.

The artist must be a creator, a destroyer, a transformer.

The artist must be a dreamer, a visionary, a mystic.

The artist must be a poet, a musician, a dancer.

The artist must be a philosopher, a scientist, a theologian.

The artist must be a child, a fool, a madman.

The artist must be a god, a devil, an angel.