Sometimes, reading and reflecting can be just as inspiring as surrounding yourself with delightful artworks found in a gallery or museum. Here are some insightful, smart art and culture quotes from people who spent their lives immersed in the arts:
“Simplicity is the glory of expression.” – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist and journalist
“Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
“Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more humane world.” – Andre Maurois, French Author
Image: artsyforager.com via Pinterest
“Every calling is great when greatly pursued” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
“A work of art is a scream of freedom” – Christo, Bulgarian artist
“The first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. to write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.” -Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist and journalist
“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe, American modernist painter; artist
“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, former American President
“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” –Anais Nin, American author and diarist
“A work of art is the trace of a magnificent struggle.” – Grace Hartigan, American abstract expressionist painter
What are some of your favorite quotations from artists, authors, and cultural commentators?