"My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind"

Agnes Martin's statement draws a profound distinction between mere visual representation and deeper, more enduring truths that reside in the mind. Her approach to art transcends the surface level of seeing, focusing instead on the intangible, universal concepts that exist beyond immediate perception. Martin suggests that painting is a means to evoke or communicate these eternal inner realities, rather than to simply imitate the observable world.

Visual art often invites audiences to look, to identify shapes, colors, and compositions, but Martin’s words challenge both the artist and the viewer to engage on a different plane. She refers to something "known forever in the mind", a kind of knowledge or experience that is timeless, unchanging, and possibly even ineffable. This could include emotional states, spiritual insights, or fundamental truths about existence that are difficult to articulate with language or realistic imagery. By focusing on the internal, she implies that art achieves its truest power when it resonates with these universal aspects of the human condition.

Martin’s paintings, famously minimal and ethereal, seek to bypass external distractions and reach toward the purity of feeling or awareness. Her characteristic use of subdued colors, repetitive lines, and subtle geometries are not intended to depict objects or landscapes, but to act as vehicles for contemplation and direct encounter with one’s inner self. Rather than instructing the viewer about what to see, she invites a meditative engagement that can spark recollection of personal and collective knowledge stored within the psyche.

Her philosophy encourages a quieter, more introspective mode of looking, one that allows for ambiguity, subjectivity, and emotional depth. The lasting impact of her work stems from its capacity to awaken enduring truths and feelings, to give form to what has always been "known forever in the mind", making the unseen visible through abstraction.