Robert Henri Quotes

We read books. They make us think. It matters very little whether we agree with the books or not.

In certain books - some way in the first few paragraphs you know that you have met a brother.

Houses, housetops, like human beings have wonderful character. The lives of housetops. The wear of the seasons. The country is beautiful, young, growing things. The majesty of trees. The backs of tenement houses are living documents.

Some one has defined a work of art as a “thing beautifully done.” I like it better if we cut away the adverb and preserve the word “done,” and let it stand alone in its fullest meaning. Things are not done beautifully. The beauty is an integral part of their being done.

The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.

Don't worry about your originality. You couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.

Do whatever you do intensely.

Art is, after all, only a trace – like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.

I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.

There is no art without contemplation.

Color is only beautiful when it means something.

A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.

A common defect of modern art study is that too many students do not know why they draw.

Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.

A Curve does not exist in its full power until contrasted with a straight line.

Art is the giving by each man of his evidence to the world. Those who wish to give, love to give, discover the pleasure of giving. Those who give are tremendously strong.

Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture. A worker or painter should enjoy his work, else the observer will not enjoy it.

All real works of art look as though they were done in joy.

Because we are saturated with life, because we are human, our strongest motive is life, humanity; and the stronger the motive back of the line the stronger, and therefore more beautiful, the line will be.

Good composition is like a suspension bridge; each line adds strength and takes none away... Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition.