Masterpiece

Un chef-d'oeuvre est une bataille gagnée contre la mort.
A masterpiece is a battle won against death.
Jean Cocteau

Works of art must persist as objects of contemplation.
Herbert Read

The beginning

One morning one of us ran out of black. That was the beginning of the Impressionist movement.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Movie recommendation

Orphée (1950), written and directed by Jean Cocteau.
If you like surrealism, this is a movie you must not miss.

My way is to seize an image the moment it has formed in my mind, to trap it as a bird and to pin it at once to canvas. Afterward I start to tame it, to master it. I bring it under control and I develop it.
Joan Miro

A prayer

Of the craftsmen it may be said that in the handiwork of their craft is their prayer.
Found inscribed over a doorway at Westminster Abbey

(I've found this quote on Art Propelled, thanks Robyn!)

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.
Vincent van Gogh

I had placed my stick on the table, as I do every evening. It had been specially made to suit my height, to enable me to walk without too much difficulty. As I was standing up, a customer called to me: 'Monsieur, don't forget your pencil.'
It was very unkind, but most funny.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

I have tried to express through red and green the terrible passions of humanity.
Vincent van Gogh

The secret of happiness is freedom
the secret of freedom is courage.
Thucydides

Anatomy

Like people, a picture has a skeleton, muscles and skin.
Paul Klee

More poetry

I drank at every vine.
The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine
So wonderful as thirst.

Edna St.Vincent Millay

Simplicity of expression

It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Everything is expressed through relationships.
Piet Mondrian

Public clown

Titian, Rembrandt and Goya were the great painters. I am only a public clown.
Pablo Picasso

I had an interesting conversation with Cécile about Picasso in one of the previous posts. Quite by chance, I've found this quote today, which proves she was quite right. A confession by Picasso himself :)

Direct appeal

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