120 Art Quotes Celebrating the Power and Beauty of Creation

This art quotes collection will make you appreciate the power and beauty of creation.

Art is an important part of our ways of living.

It is a form of human expression that aims to entertain and make people happy.

Great art manifests beauty and elicits strong sentiments.

Art is essential to the human spirit.

It makes you think and takes you places.

When you walk by art, you must look at it and wonder.

We feel so many things when we look at art.

It brings feelings of empathy, longing, lust, desire, anger, disgust, connection, and much more.

Art says things that words just can’t say

No matter which part of the world a piece of art is from, it doesn’t need words to understand.

Besides, art lasts longer than most things.

Long after you’re gone, people might long at paintings of your face and feel a connection to you.

Art is powerful because it empowers people’s hearts and helps make a difference in the world.

In that respect, our collection of inspirational, beautiful, and thought-provoking art quotes, sayings, and proverbs collected from various sources over the years is below.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Explore our complete collection of motivational quotes here.

Art quotes celebrating the power and beauty of creation

1. “The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.”  – Jerzy Kosinski

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2. “Creativity takes courage.”   – Henri Matisse

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3. “You have to systematically create confusion; it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life.” – Salvador Dalí

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4. “I think being different, going against the grain of society is the greatest thing in the world.” – Elijah Wood

5. The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” – Neil Gaiman

6. “Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.” – Leon Trotsky

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7. “Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea.” – Edward de Bono

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8. “Art speaks where words are unable to explain.” – Unknown

9. “The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

10. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” – Pablo Picasso

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Art quotes that will make you happier

11. Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.” – Leo Tolstoy

12. “When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection.” – Agnes Martin

13. “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.” – John F. Kennedy

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14. Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.”  – Dale Carnegie

15. “The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” – Julia Cameron

16. “An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.” –  Charles Bukowski

17. “When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.”  – John Ruskin

18. “Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.” – John Lubbock

19. “Personally, I experience the greatest degree of pleasure in having contact with works of art. They furnish me with happy feelings of an intensity that I cannot derive from other sources.” – Albert Einstein

20. “Art is restoration: the idea is to repair the damages that are inflicted in life, to make something that is fragmented – which is what fear and anxiety do to a person – into something whole.” – Louise Bourgeois

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Art quotes that will make you appreciate it

21. The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle

22. “Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further.” – Keith Haring

23. “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing–and keeping the unknown always beyond you.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

24. “You cannot be all things to all people. Be unique. Be different. Give to others what you want yourself. And do what you were made to do.” – Robert Kiyosaki

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25. “Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” – Steven Pressfield

26. “Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.” – Victor Pinchuk

27. You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.” –  Napoleon Bonaparte

28. “No difficulty can discourage, no obstacle dismay, no trouble disheartens the man who has acquired the art of being alive. Difficulties are but dares of fate, obstacles but hurdles to try his skill, troubles but bitter tonics to give him strength; and he rises higher and looms greater after each encounter with adversity.”  – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

29. “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”  – Pablo Picasso

30. “Art is about changing what we see in our everyday lives and representing it in such a way that it gives us hope.” – Kehinde Wiley

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Art quotes on its beauty

31. “A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.” – Hedy Lamarr

32. “Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day.” – John Wooden

33. “Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail.” – Theodore Dreiser

34. “The beauty of art is that it allows you to slow down, and for a moment, things that once seemed unfamiliar become precious to you.” – Kehinde Wiley

35. “Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move.” – Ossie Davis

36. “Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.” – John Ruskin

37. “Winners have the ability to step back from the canvas of their lives like an artist gaining perspective. They make their lives a work of art – an individual masterpiece.”  – Denis Waitley

38. “I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art.” – Arsene Wenger

39. “I believe art is utterly important. It is one of the things that could save us” –  Mary Oliver

40. “The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.”  – Alberto Giacometti

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Art quotes to inspire and motivate

41. “What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.”  – Eugene Delacroix

42. “I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.’”  – Vincent Van Gogh

43. “To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”   – Osho

44. “The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.”  – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

45. Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”  – Pope John Paul II

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46. Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.”  – Maria Montessori

47. “To be an artist is to believe in life.”  – Henry Moore

48. “Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.”  – René Magritte

49. “What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It’s not what you see that is art; art is the gap.”  – Marcel Duchamp

50. “The work of art is a scream of freedom.”  – Christo

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More art quotes and sayings

51. “A picture is a work of art, not because it is ‘modern,’ nor because it is ‘ancient,’ but because it is a sincere expression of human feeling.” – John F. Carlson

52. “Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” – Amy Lowell

53. The object of Art is to give life a shape.” – William Shakespeare

54. Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” – Oscar Wilde

55. “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams

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56. Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.” – George Bernard Shaw

57. “Art is the highest form of hope.” – Gerhard Richter

58. “A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind.” – Eugene Ionesco

59. “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – Andre Gide

60. The art of art, the glory of expression, and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity.” – Walt Whitman

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61. “Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.” -Leo Tolstoy

62. “Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees.” –Marcel Proust

63. “Art is a harmony parallel with nature.” -Paul Cezanna

64. “The mission of art is to represent nature not to imitate her.” -William Morris Hunt

65. “Every painting is a voyage into a sacred harbour.” -Giotto di Bondone

66. “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” –Thomas Merton

67. “The business of art is to reveal the relation between man and his environment.” -D.H. Lawrence

68. “Art is the daughter of freedom.” -Friedrich Schiller

69. “Art is just another way of keeping a diary.” -Pablo Picasso

70. “What is art but a way of seeing?” -Saul Bellow

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Inspiring art quotes

71. “The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” -Michelangelo

72. “This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” -Henry David Thoreau

73. “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” -Vincent Van Gogh

74. “To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.” -Robert Schumann

75. “The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.” -Dale Carnegie

76. “A picture is a poem without words.” -Horace

77. “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” -Francis Bacon

78. “Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.” -Jean Cocteau

79. “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” -Twyla Tharp

80. “Art must take reality by surprise.” -Francoise Sagan

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Art Quotes About Vision

81. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau

82. “You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” — George Bernard Shaw

83. “The big art is our life.” — Mary Caroline Richards

84. “The beauty one can find in art is one of the pitifully few real and lasting products of human endeavor.” — Paul Getty

85. “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” — Pablo Picasso

86. Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes.” — Khalil Gibran

87. “Art should be something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.” — Henri Matisse

88. “In art as in love, instinct is enough.” — Anatole France

89. “An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” — James Whistler

90. “Art is the objectification of feeling.” — Herman Melville

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Art Quotes On The Beauty Of Art

91. “Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.” ― Oscar Wilde

92. “Art is essentially the affirmation, the blessing, and the deification of existence.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

93. “Great art picks up where nature ends.” ― Marc Chagall

94.  “Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.” ― Alfred North Whitehead

95. “The work of art must seize upon you…carry you away.” ― Pierre-Auguste Renoir

96. “Art is like singing. Some do it better than others, but everyone can and should be doing it for their soul.” ― Barbara Mason

97. “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” ― Pablo Picasso

98. “Art remains the one way possible of speaking truth.” ― Robert Browning

99. “Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that we live, if we do.” ― Elizabeth Bowen

100. “Art is a guarantee of sanity.” ― Louise Bourgeois

Art Quotes About The Power Of Art

101. In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

102. “It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.” ― Oscar Wilde

103. “All art deals with the absurd and aims at the simple. Good art speaks truth, indeed is truth, perhaps the only truth.” ― Iris Murdoch

104. “What is Art? It is the response of man’s creative soul to the call of the Real.” ― Rabindranath Tagore

105. “An art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t an art at all.” ― Paul Cezanne

106. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.” ― Ansel Adams

107. “A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.” ― Albert Camus

108. “In art, to express the infinite one should suggest infinitely more than is expressed.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

109. “The more minimal the art, the more maximum the explanation.” ― Hilton Kramer

110. “The first essential to success in the art you practice is respect for the art itself.” ― Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Art Quotes to Inspire the Creative Spirit

111. “Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature and which there divines the spirit of which nature herself is animated.” — Auguste Rodin

112. “The more I look at most of the art movements, it’s all occultism, when you get down to it. The Surrealists were openly talking about being magicians.” — Alan Moore

113. “The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson

114. “Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.” — John Ruskin

115. “Works of art, in my opinion, are the only objects in the material universe to possess internal order, and that is why, though I don’t believe that only art matters, I do believe in Art for Art’s sake.” — E. M. Forster

116. Art is a discovery and development of elementary principles of nature into beautiful forms suitable for human use.” — Frank Lloyd Wright

117. “Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience.” — Alfred North Whitehead

118.  “The act of creation is a kind of ritual. The origins of art and human existence lie hidden in this mystery of creation. Human creativity reaffirms and mystifies the power of ‘life.” — Keith Haring

119. “In its most limited sense, modern, art would seem to concern itself only with the technical innovations of the period.” — Edward Hopper

120. “Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton

Did you enjoy these art quotes

Art is so inspiring and important.

It moves people, incites new questions, and provokes excitement, curiosity, and outrage.

Art has been around us for as long as humans have existed.

No matter where we are, it affects our lives in one way or another.

Hopefully, the above quotes

Which of these art quotes and sayings resonated with you best?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Tell us in the comment section below.

We would love to hear all about it.