Famous quotes by Painters

Discover the voices of painters in their own words, reflecting on color, light, form, and the restless pursuit of seeing. These quotes span eras and styles, from celebrated masters to contemporary creators, revealing how craft, curiosity, and discipline shape the studio and the world beyond it. Whether you paint, collect, study, or simply love looking, this collection offers concise sparks of insight into process, persistence, doubt, and delight. Let these perspectives open new ways of noticing, imagining, and engaging with art and everyday life.

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"The truth simply is that's all. It doesn't need reasons: it doesn't have to be right: it's just the truth. Period"

Frederick C. Frieseke, Painter

Frederick C. Frieseke

"My painting carries with it the message of pain"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"Death is pitch-dark, but colors are light. To be a painter, one must work with rays of light"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"A person himself believes that all the other portraits are good likenesses except the one of himself"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep feeling of anxiety which I have tried to express in my art"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"I have always sought to create a kind of painting that is free of all the unnecessary details, to make it as simple and monumental as possible, and to express the emotions that the landscapes have given me"

Harald Sohlberg, Painter

Harald Sohlberg

"I am a kitsch painter. It means that I am working on human reactions, and I have found out that I am not alone"

Odd Nerdrum, Painter

Odd Nerdrum

"Was not from a mixture of two races that the Titans sprang?"

Jose C. Orozco, Painter

"The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"Painting completed my life"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"I love you more than my own skin"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you"

Frida Kahlo, Painter

Frida Kahlo

"The colors live a remarkable life of their own after they have been applied to the canvas"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"Some colors reconcile themselves to one another, others just clash"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"It was always my intention that The Frieze should be housed in a room which would provide a suitable architectural frame for it"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"In common with Michelangelo and Rembrandt I am more interested in the line, its rise and fall, than in color"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"I build a kind of wall between myself and t he model so that I can paint in peace behind it. Otherwise, she might say something that confuses and distracts me"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"Youth must go ahead and prosper. These young painters are all very talented people, but they all paint frescoes"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"The rich man who gives, steals twice over. First he steals the money and then the hearts of men"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"The notes I have made are not a diary in the ordinary sense, but partly lengthy records of my spiritual experiences, and partly poems in prose"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"In my childhood I always felt that I was treated unjustly, without a mother, sick, and with the threat of punishment in Hell hanging over my head"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

"I have no fear of photography as long as it cannot be used in heaven and in hell"

Edvard Munch, Painter

Edvard Munch

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