Henri Matisse

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

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, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.

I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I have for life and the way I express it.

Creativity takes courage.

Accuracy is not truth.

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

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so, he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

To copy the object is not to copy its meaning.

The artist must look at all things as if he were seeing them for the first time.

A large part of the beauty of a picture comes from the relationship the frame has to the picture.

Seek the essential, but do not necessarily destroy the ornament.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

My choice of colors is not based on any scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the very nature of the experience.

The chief function of color should be to serve expression as well as possible.

It is not enough to place colors, however beautiful, one beside the other; colors must be appropriately placed to enhance each other.

An artist must possess nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare him for the mastery of the great universal rhythm.

He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free.

When I put a green, it does not mean that it is grass; when I put a blue, it does not mean that it is sky.

My drawings are sometimes hard to understand, but they are not difficult to make if you know how to draw.

The object of painting is to arrange colors in such a way that they sing together.