Sickness, insanity and death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life.
Edvard MunchRead
If what you want to paint is the emotive mood in all its strength... then you must not sit and stare at everything and depict it exactly as one sees it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
To capture true emotions in art, one must go beyond mere realism and express deeper feelings.
In this quote, Edvard Munch emphasizes the importance of conveying emotional depth in artistic expression. Rather than merely replicating the physical appearance of subjects, artists should focus on the mood and emotions they wish to express, suggesting that true art emerges when one transcends literal representation to tap into the emotional essence of the scene or subject.
Themes
ArtEmotionExpressionPaintingCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire artists during a gallery opening to discuss their creative process.
More from Edvard Munch
All quotes →I don’t believe in an art that is not born out of man’s need to open his heart.
Edvard MunchRead
Through my art I have tried to explain my life and its meaning. I have also intended to help others to clarify their lives.
Edvard MunchRead
My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder. My art is grounded in reflections over being different from others. My sufferings are part of my self and my art. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art. I want to keep those sufferings
Edvard MunchRead
At different moments you see with different eyes. You see differently in the morning than you do in the evening. In addition, how you see is also dependent on your emotional state. Because of this, a motif can be seen in many different ways, and this is what makes art interesting.
Edvard MunchRead
From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.
Edvard MunchRead
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David HockneyRead
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Wynton MarsalisRead
The artist usually sets out -- or used to -- to point a moral and adorn a tale. The tale, however, points the other way, as a rule. Two blankly opposing morals, the artist's and the tale's. Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper functions of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.
D. H. LawrenceRead
The photographer's problem is to see clearly the limitations and at the same time the potential qualities of his medium, for it is precisely here that honesty no less than intensity of vision is the pre-requisite of a living expression. The fullest realization of this is accomplished without tricks of process or manipulation, through the use of straight photographic methods.
Paul StrandRead
If I create with my heart almost all my intentions remain. If it is with the head - almost nothing. An artist must not fear to be himself, to express only himself. If he is absolutely and entirely sincere, what he says and does will be acceptable to others.
Marc ChagallRead