Never Ruin A Good Painting With The

A Young Painter Who Cannot Liberate Himself From The Influence Of Past Generations Is Digging His Own Grave.

A Work Should Contain Its Total Meaning Within Itself And Should Impress It On The Spectator Before He Even Knows The Subject.

I Have To Create An Object Which Resembles The Tree. The Sign For A Tree, And Not The Sign That Other Artists May Have Found For The Tree.

It Would Be A Mistake To Ascribe This Creative Power To An Inborn Talent. In Art, The Genius Creator Is Not Just A Gifted Being, But A Person Who Has Succeeded In Arranging For Their Appointed End, A Complex Of Activities, Of Which The Work Is The Outcome. The Artist Begins With A Vision — A Creative Operation Requiring An Effort. Creativity Takes Courage.

The Arts Have A Development Which Comes Not Only From The Individual But Also From A Whole Acquired Force, The Civilization Which Precedes Us. One Cannot Do Just Anything. A Talented Artist Cannot Do Whatever He Pleases. If He Only Used His Gifts, He Would Not Exist. We Are Not The Masters Of What We Produce. It Is Imposed On Us.