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Three Famous Artists Offer Their Words of Wisdom With Advice to Artists

By Renee Phillips Leave a Comment

Imagine being transported through time and space and you are visiting a famous artist in their studio. You ask them to share insight about their creative process. In this article three famous artists offer their words of wisdom and advice to artists. They are Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe and Wassily Kandinsky.

You’ll also find links to several articles that are equally informative and inspirational.

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse, Dessert, Harmony in Red, oil painting, 70″ x 86″. Public domain.
Henri Matisse, Dessert, Harmony in Red, oil painting, 70″ x 86″. Photo: Public domain.

“What you have to do is look at what you wish to express long enough and with enough attention to discover an aspect of it that has never been seen or described by anyone before.”

“I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.”

“To describe a blazing fire and a tree on a plain, we must stay put in front of that fire and that tree until for us they no longer resemble any other tree or any other fire. That is the way in which you will become original.”

“The artist begins with a vision – a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage.”


Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1919, High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Public domain.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Red Canna, 1919, High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Public domain.

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.”

“Someone else’s vision will never be as good as your own vision of your self. Live and die with it ’cause in the end it’s all you have. Lose it and you lose yourself and everything else. I should have listened to myself.”

“I think it’s so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary–you’re happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.”


Wassily Kandinsky

In Blue, painting by Wassily Kandinsky, created in 1925. Public domain. wikimedia.org
In Blue, painting by Wassily Kandinsky, created in 1925. Public domain. wikimedia.org

“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.”

“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.”

“The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning.”

“The true work of art is born from the ‘artist’: a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being.”


Read “Art and Artist’s Statements – Quotes by Famous Artists”

Read “Let Your Personality Shine When Writing About Your Art”

Read “Expressing Your Unique Creative Vision As An Artist”

Read “The 8 C’s in Art Career Success”

Read “The Rituals and Routines of Famous Artists”


Filed Under: Advice To Artists From Artists, Articles, Featured Articles, Inspiration Tagged With: advice for artists, famous artists, Georgia O'Keeffe, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky

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About Renee Phillips

Renée Phillips is a mentor and advocate for artists helping them achieve their fullest potential. She provides career advice, writing services, and promotion for artists from beginners to advanced. She organizes online exhibitions as Director/Curator of Manhattan Arts International www.ManhattanArts.com and Founder of The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS www.healing-power-of-art.org. As an arts' advocate she has served on the advisory boards of several non-profit arts organizations. She lives in New York, NY.

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My purpose is to help artists achieve their fullest potential. On this website I share decades of knowledge and experience as an art writer and artist career coach.

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As the Founder, Director and Curator of Manhattan Arts International I maintain online galleries and curate exhibitions.

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