Constantin Brâncuși

Visual Arts Romanian 1876 – 1957 104 quotes

A Romanian sculptor who made his career in France, considered one of the pioneers of modernism and one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century.

Quotes by Constantin Brâncuși

The genius of the work of art is in the work itself, not in the explanation.

Letter

What is beautiful is moral; what is moral is beautiful.

Personal reflection

To see far is one thing, to reach far is another.

Interview

The bird in flight is the symbol of freedom.

Speech 1925

One must seek the essential, not the superficial.

Correspondence

The material is only a means to express the infinite.

Interview 1935

In art, as in life, the path is more important than the destination.

Personal reflection

Sculpture is the art of the absent body.

Speech

The soul of the stone speaks through the artist's hand.

Letter 1910

Do not look for the idea, let it come to you.

Interview

The infinite is captured in the finite form.

Personal reflection

Art must be direct, without intermediaries.

Speech 1920

Life is too short to copy others.

Correspondence

The eye must see the soul before the hand shapes it.

Interview

True art is eternal, beyond time.

Personal reflection 1945

The column rises like a prayer to the sky.

Speech 1938

One carves to reveal, not to invent.

Letter

Beauty is the harmony of form and spirit.

Interview

The studio is my world, the world is my studio.

Personal reflection

Sculpture teaches patience and truth.

Speech 1927