“Every artist was first an amateur”. Ralph Waldo Emerson
“To be an artist is to believe in life.” Henry Moore
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. Thomas Merton
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see”. Edgar Degas
“Art is never finished, only abandoned”. Leonardo da Vinci
“Art is to console those who are broken by life”. Vincent Van Gogh
“Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy”. Albert Einstein
“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before”. Neil Gaiman
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep”. Scott Adams
“All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up”. James Baldwin
Many people turn to the portfolios of prolific artists, writers, and other creatives when seeking artistic inspiration. In addition to their powerful bodies of work, however, it is also worth listening to the words spoken, written, and shared by these influential figures. Many creatives offer quotes about art in an effort to inform their audience and impart their wisdom to artistic hopefuls.
When you take a look at some of the most powerful prose spoken by well-known creatives—from Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh to Bob Ross and Basquiat—it’s clear to see how profoundly knowledgeable they are. Ranging from explorations about the meaning of art to presentations of their own motivational mantras, these quotes about art prove the creative power and potential of words.
