Art

The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things.

Poetry is superior to painting in the presentation of words, and painting is superior to poetry in the presentation of facts. For this reason I judge painting to be superior to poetry.

The young man should first learn perspective, then the proportions of objects. Next, copy work after the hand of a good master, to gain the habit of drawing parts of the body well; and then 39 to work from nature, to confirm the lessons learned.

Music may be called the sister of painting, for she is dependent upon hearing, the sense which comes second and her harmony is composed of the union of proportional parts sounded simultaneously, rising and falling in one or more harmonic rhythms.

Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.

M a k e yo u r s e l f a m a s t e r o f perspective, then acquire perfect knowledge of the proportions of men and other animals.

An artist’s studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.

The mind of a painter should be like a mirror which is filled with as many images as there are things placed before him.

Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Color, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest.

Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.

Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art.

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.

Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.

A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.