Top 93 Quotes & Sayings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
How is it that in the so-called barbarian ages art was understood, whereas in our age of progress exactly the opposite is true?
The simplest subjects are the immortal ones.
The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself, carry you away. It is the means by which the artist conveys his passion; it is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion.
Go and see what others have produced, but never copy anything except nature. You would be trying to enter into a temperament that is not yours and nothing that you would do would have any character.
I have no rules and no methods... no secrets.
One must from time to time attempt things that are beyond one's capacity.
We are in a period of searchers rather than of creators.
When I've painted a woman's bottom so that I want to touch it, then [the painting] is finished.
"The work of art must seize upon you...carry you away."
White does not exist in nature.
The artist who uses the least of what is called imagination will be the greatest.
There are some things in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential.
There are quite enough unpleasant things in life without the need to manufacture more.
Why should beauty be suspect?
I've never let one day go by without painting, or at least without drawing.
Shall I tell you what I think are the two qualities of a work of art? First, it must be indescribable, and second, it must be inimitable.
The ideas come afterwards, when the picture is finished.
A painter who has the feel of breasts and buttocks is saved.
The purpose of painting is to decorate the walls. Therefore it has to be as rich as possible
Everybody has their reasons.
I never think I have finished a nude until I think I could pinch it.
I've spent my life making blunders.
Work lovingly done is the secret of all order and all happiness.
Regularity, order, desire for perfection destroy art. Irregularity is the basis of all art.
I would never have taken up painting if women did not have breasts.
To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.
The most important element in a picture cannot be defined.
I like a painting which makes me want to stroll in it.
The advantage of growing old is that you become aware of your mistakes more quickly.
To be an artist you must learn the laws of nature.
If you paint the leaf on a tree without using a model, your imagination will only supply you with a few leaves; but Nature offers you millions, all on the same tree. No two leaves are exactly the same. The artist who paints only what is in his mind must very soon repeat himself.
Be a good craftsman; it won't stop you from being a genius.
I arrange my subject as I want it, then I go ahead and paint it, like a child.
It's with my brush that I make love.
An artist must eat sparingly and give up a normal way of life.
You don't talk about paintings, you look at them.
About 1883 something like a break occurred in my work. I had reached the end of 'impressionism,' and I had come to realize that I did not know how to paint or draw.
You've got to be a fool to want to stop the march of time.
The modern architect is, generally speaking, art's greatest enemy.
I consider that women who are authors, lawyers, and politicians are monsters.
With all their damned talk of modern painting, I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colours is black!
He bores me. He ought to have stuck to his flying machine.
[On Leonardo Da Vinci]
One can thus state, without fear of being wrong, that every truly artistic production has been conceived and executed according to the principle of irregularity.
One morning, one of us ran out of the black, it was the birth of Impressionism.
Nothing costs so little, goes so far, and accomplishes so much as a single act of merciful service.
Why shouldn’t art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.
The only reward one should offer an artist is to buy his work.
What is to be done about these literary people, who will never understand that painting is a craft and that the material side comes first? The ideas come afterwards, when the picture is finished.
To express himself well, the artist should be hidden. The trouble is that if an artist knows he has genius, he's done for. The only salvation is to work like a labourer, and not have delusions of grandeur.
There are two indices of genuine art: it is inimitable and it is ineffable.
God, the king of artists, was clumsy.
People love to be nice, but you must give them the chance.
I want a red to be sonorous, to sound like a bell. If it doesn't turn out that way, I add more reds and other colors until I get it.
I need to feel the excitement of life stirring around me, and I will always need to feel that.
If it [dabbling in art] didn't amuse me, I beg you to believe that I wouldn't do it.
Art is about emotion; if art needs to be explained it is no longer art.
Photography freed painting from a lot of tiresome chores, starting with family portraits.
Paint with joy - with the same joy that you would make love to a woman.
What seems most significant to me about our movement is that we have freed painting from the importance of the subject. I am at liberty to paint flowers and call them flowers, without their needing to tell a story.
I have arrived more definitely than any other painter during his lifetime; honours shower upon me from every side; artists pay me compliments on my work; there are many people to whom my position must seem enviable ... But I don't seem to have a single real friend!
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