Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.
In general it can be said that a nation's art is greatest when it most reflects the character of its people.
In its most limited sense, modern, art would seem to concern itself only with the technical innovations of the period.
The question of the value of nationality in art is perhaps unsolvable.
The trend in some of the contemporary movements in art, but by no means all, seems to deny this ideal and to me appears to lead to a purely decorative conception of painting.
It's to paint directly on the canvas without any funny business, as it were, and I use almost pure turpentine to start with, adding oil as I go along until the medium becomes pure oil. I use as little oil as I can possibly help, and that's my method.
It's to paint directly on the canvas without any funny business, as it were, and I use almost pure turpentine to start with, adding oil as I go along until the medium becomes pure oil. I use as little oil as I can possibly help, and that's my method.
No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.
If the technical innovations of the Impressionists led merely to a more accurate representation of nature, it was perhaps of not much value in enlarging their powers of expression.
My aim in painting has always been the most exact transcription possible of my most intimate impression of nature.