Art is as much a part of human nature as breathing. Since the dawn of time, humans have taken to creating in various forms and schools, with all manner of reception. Whether beloved or highly critiqued, art is a fixture of culture and what it means to be alive. To inspire your creativity, we’ve compiled a list of the best quotes about art.
Quotes to Inspire
Whether you’re a creator or an avid observer, art of all mediums can inspire each and every one of us. You might just be motivated to pick up a paintbrush or write that play after reading some of these inspirational quotes about art.
1. "Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous." – Toni Morrison, Sula
2. "The object of the artist is the creation of the beautiful. What the beautiful is is another question." – James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
3. "If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams." – Yann Martel, Life of Pi
4. "Art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something." – Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park
5. “The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” – Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Quotes About Art and Love
Art and love often go hand-in-hand. As a tool for expression, art allows us to channel love creatively, whether the object of our passion is a person, place, or thing.
6. "Art and love are the same thing: It's the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you." – Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
7. "Not everyone can be the artist. There have to be those who witness the art, who love and appreciate what they have been privileged to see." – Ann Patchett, Bel Canto
8. "The artist must possess the courageous soul. The soul that dares and defies." – Kate Chopin, The Awakening
9. “i am a museum full of art but you had your eyes shut” – Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey
10. “One thing about great art: it made you love people more, forgive them their petty transgressions. It worked in the way that religion was supposed to, if you thought about it.” - Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked
Quotes About the Self and Art
While art is often created for the public, the relationship between the individual and a work of art—whether it be one they create or experience—is deeply personal and, ultimately, the most important. How we relate to art is as much a part of the piece as the art itself.
11. "Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." – Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
12. "Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known." – Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
13. “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
14. “Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.” – Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art
15. “A fine work of art—music, dance, painting, story—has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.” – Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
16. “Just as music is noise that makes sense, a painting is colour that makes sense, so a story is life that makes sense.” – Yann Martel, Beatrice and Virgil
17. “Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.” – W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up
Quotes About Life and Art
Art is all around us, continually—separating ourselves from art is impossible. While understanding how art and life intersect may be daunting, valuing this powerful dynamic can give life itself more richness.
18. "Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth." – Madeleine L’Engle, The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth
19. “It is a cruel, ironical art, photography. The dragging of captured moments into the future." – Kate Morton, The Shifting Fog
20. "A blank canvas...has unlimited possibilities." – Stephanie Perkins, Isla and the Happily Ever After
21. “Poetry and art and knowledge are sacred and pure.” – George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
22. “Humans make art to remember and be remembered... Art is their weapon against forgetting.” – Melissa Grey, The Girl at Midnight
23. “Sometimes it is better not to talk about art by using the word ‘art.’ If we just act with awareness and integrity, our art will flower, and we don’t have to talk about it at all.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
