Henri Matisse

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

Creativity takes courage.

A work should contain its total meaning within itself and should impress it on the spectator before he even knows the subject.

I do not distinguish between the construction of a book and that of a painting and I always proceed from the simple to the complex." - 1946

From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.

The importance of an artist is to be measured by the quantity of new signs which he has introduced to the language of art.