Explore popular quotes and sayings by a French artist Edouard Manet.
Last updated on December 25, 2024.
Édouard Manet was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
It is not enough to know your craft - you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more.
I need to work to feel well.
This woman's work is exceptional. Too bad she's not a man.
No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else.
Black is not a color.
There is only one true thing: instantly paint what you see. When you've got it, you've got it. When you haven't, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.
There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.
I would kiss you, had I the courage.
Insults are pouring down on me as thick as hail.
The attacks of which I have been the object have broken the spring of life in me... People don't realize what it feels like to be constantly insulted.
You would hardly believe how difficult it is to place a figure alone on a canvas, and to concentrate all the interest on this single and universal figure and still keep it living and real.
Concision in art is a necessity and an elegance. The verbose painter bores: who will get rid of all these trimmings?
Who is this Monet whose name sounds just like mine and who is taking advantage of my notoriety?
You must always remain master of the situation and do what you please. No school tasks, ah, no! no tasks!
Conciseness in art is essential and a refinement. The concise man makes one think; the verbose bores. Always work towards conciseness.
I paint what I see and not what others like to see.
The latest fashion… is absolutely necessary for a painting. It’s what matters most.
Every new painting is like throwing myself into the water without knowing how to swim.
If I'm lucky, when I paint, first my patrons leave the room, then my dealers, and if I'm really lucky I leave too.
There's no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other. There's always a difference. We all have a more or less crooked nose and an irregular mouth.
In a face, look for the main light and the main shadow; the rest will come naturally — it's often not important. And then you must cultivate your memory, because Nature will only provide you with references. Nature is like a warden in a lunatic asylum. It stops you from becoming banal.
Above all, keep your colors fresh!
I paint as I feel like painting; to hell with all their studies.
Every time I paint, I throw myself into the water
in order to learn how to swim.
The principal person in a picture is light.
One must be of one's time and paint what one sees.
There is no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other.
There is only one true thing: Instantly paint what you see.
The country only has charms for those not obliged to stay there.