Max Beckmann

“It is not the subject that matters but the translation of the subject into the abstraction of the surface.”

“To be a child is to be a king.”

“Self-realization is the urge of all objective spirits.”

“We are all clowns in front of God.”

“The harder the blow, the greater the expression.”

“Space, and space again, is the infinite deity which surrounds us and in which we are ourselves contained.”

“Life is a damn difficult thing. I'm not a pessimist, but a realist.”

“If you wish to get hold of the invisible, you must penetrate as deeply as possible into the visible.”

“Often, very often, I am alone. My studio in Amsterdam, an enormous old tobacco storeroom, is my headquarters, my palace.”

“Art is the mirror of the creator's own intensified consciousness.”

“What is important is to create space, to bring here to there.”

“Painting is a very difficult thing. It absorbs the whole man, body and soul.”

“The black is the most important color.”

“I am seeking for the bridge which leans from the visible to the invisible.”

“My aim is to get hold of the magic of reality and to transfer this reality into painting.”