Pierre Bonnard Quotes

A painting that is well composed is half finished.

And after drawing comes composition. A well-composed painting is half done

The precision of naming takes away from the uniqueness of seeing.

Art is not nature... There was a lot more to be got out of color.

You cannot possibly invent painting all by yourself.

Imagination is merely the exploitation of our memory.

The important thing is to remember what most impressed you and to put it on canvas as fast as possible.

You reason colour more than you reason drawing Colour has a logic as severe as form.

How many days have I spent alone with my cat... and when I say alone, I mean without a material being, for my cat is a mystical companion, a spirit.

It's not a matter of painting life, it's a matter of giving life to painting.

It is still color, it is not yet light.

One always talks of surrendering to nature. There is also such a thing as surrendering to the picture.

Draw your pleasure, paint your pleasure, and express your pleasure strongly.

The expression on my face - who on earth would be interested in that? All that I have to say is to be found in my works. (On being photographed)

One does not always sing out of happiness.

What attracted me was less art itself than the artist’s life and all that it meant for me: the idea of creativity and freedom of expression and action. I had been attracted to painting and drawing for a long time, but it was not an irresistible passion; what I wanted, at all costs, was to escape the monotony of life.

Color does not add a pleasant quality to design - it reinforces it.

Drawing is feeling. Color is an act of reason.

Painting has to get back to its original goal, examining the inner lives of human beings.

Work on the accent, it will enliven the whole.

I am just beginning to understand what it is to paint. A painter should have two lives, one in which to learn, and one in which to practice his art.

Art will never be able to exist without nature.