Arshile Gorky Quotes

I seek a form of language which will express my ideas for our time.

The secret is to throw yourself into the water of life again and again, not to hang back, no reservations, risk everything, but above all strike out boldly with all you have.

The eyes of the Armenians speak long before the lips move and long after they cease to.

Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes.

When something is finished, that means it's dead, doesn't it? I believe in everlastingness. I never finish a painting - I just stop working on it for a while.

Art must always remain earnest... Art must be serious, no sarcasm, comedy. One does not laugh at a loved one.

Movement is the translation of life, and if art depicts life, movement should come into art, since we are only aware of living because it moves.

Dreams form the bristles of the artist's brush.

Drawing is the basis of art. A bad painter cannot draw. But one who draws well can always paint.

If Picasso drips, I drip... For a long while I was with Cezanne, and now I am with Picasso.

I do not paint in front of but from within nature.

I communicate my innermost perceptions through art.

You know how fussy and particular I am in painting. I am ever removing the paint and repainting the spot until I am completely exhausted.

If a painting of mine suits me, it is right. If it does not please me, I care not if all the great masters should approve it or the dealers buy it. They would be wrong.