Robert Henri Quotes

112 Sourced Quotes

Art is, after all, only a trace—like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.

Robert Henri
After all, the goal is not making art. It is living a life. Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art.

Robert Henri
Find out what you really like if you can. Find out what is really important to you. Then sing your song. You will have something to sing about and your whole heart will be in the singing.

Robert Henri
Whatever you feel or think your exact state at the exact moment of your brush touching the canvas is in some way registered in that stroke.

Robert Henri
Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing.

Robert Henri
There are pictures that manifest education and there are pictures that manifest love.

Robert Henri
You will never draw the sense of a thing unless you are feeling it at the time you work.

Robert Henri
To paint is to know how to put nothing on canvas, and have it look like something when you stand back.

Robert Henri
There is nothing more entertaining than to have a frank talk with yourself. Few do it-frankly. Educating yourself is getting acquainted with yourself.

Robert Henri
In every human being there is the artist, and whatever his activity, he has an equal chance with any to express the result of his growth and his contact with life. I don't believe any real artist cares whether what he does is 'art' or not. Who, after all, knows what art is?

Robert Henri
Because we are saturated with life, because we are human, our strongest motive is life, humanity; and the stronger the motive back of the line the stronger, and therefore more beautiful, the line will be.

Robert Henri
No nation as yet is the home of art. Art is an outsider, a gypsy over the face of the earth.

Robert Henri
When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible.

Robert Henri
When we respect the nude, we will no longer have any shame about it.

Robert Henri
It is harder to see than it is to express. The whole value of art rests in the artist's ability to see well into what is before him.

Robert Henri
The more simply you see, the more simply you will render. People see too much, scatteringly.

Robert Henri
The work of the art student is no light matter. Few have the courage and stamina to think it through. You have to make up your mind to be alone in many ways. We like sympathy and we like to be in company. It is easier than going it alone. But alone one gets acquainted with himself, grows up and on, not stopping with the crowd. It costs to do this. If you succeed somewhat you may have to pay for it as well as enjoy it all your life.

Robert Henri
The artist should have a powerful will. He should be powerfully possessed by one idea

Robert Henri
Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture. A worker or painter should enjoy his work, else the observer will not enjoy it.

Robert Henri
Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you.

Robert Henri
The true artist regards his work as a means of talking with men [and women], of saying his say to himself and to others. It is not a question of pay...

Robert Henri
The pictures which do not represent an intense interest cannot expect to create an intense interest.

Robert Henri
All the past up to a moment ago is your legacy. You have a right to it.

Robert Henri
By my teaching I hope to inspire you to personal activity and to present your vision.

Robert Henri
Your only hope of satisfying others is in satisfying yourself. I speak of a great satisfaction, not a commercial satisfaction.

Robert Henri
Fight with yourself when you paint, not with the model. A student is one who struggles with himself for order.

Robert Henri
In a tree there is a spirit of life, a spirit of growth and a spirit of holding its head up.

Robert Henri
Feel the dignity of a child. Do not feel superior to him, for you are not.

Robert Henri
Beauty is an intangible thing; can not be fixed on the surface, and the wear and tear of old age on the body cannot defeat it. Nor will a "pretty" face make it, for "pretty" faces are often dull and empty, and beauty is never dull and it fills all spaces.

Robert Henri
Everything depends on the attitude of the artist toward his subject. It is essential.

Robert Henri