Robert Motherwell

“Abstraction is a process of emphasis, and emphasis is necessary to art.”

“Most painting in the European tradition was painting the mask. Modern art rejected all that.”

“One of the most striking things about modern art is that it is an art of beginnings.”

“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.”

“To be an artist is to believe in life.”

“The public history of modern art is the story of conventional people not knowing what they are dealing with.”

“It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism.”

“The artist is a kind of town crier, ringing his bell, expecting the people to come and listen.”

“Every intelligent painter carries the whole culture of modern painting in his head. It is his real subject, of which anything he paints is both a homage and a critique.”

“The function of the artist is to express reality as felt.”

“Without ethical consciousness, a painter is only a decorator.”

“The need for a culture is the need for a common meaning.”

“I have no formula. I have an intuitive sense of what I am after.”