Edgar Degas Artist Quotations

I put it (a still life of a pear, made by Manet, ed.) there (on the wall, next to Ingres' Jupiter, ed.), for a pear like that would overthrow any god.

A picture is first of all a product of the imagination of the artist; it must never be a copy.

The artist does not draw what he sees, but what he has to make others see.

The frame is the reward of the artist.

An artist must approach his work in the spirit of the criminal about to commit a crime.

I should like to be famous and unknown.

A painting is above all a product of the artist's imagination, it must never be a copy. If, at a later stage, he wants to add two or three touches from nature, of course it doesn't spoil anything.

It seems to me that today if the artist wishes to be serious... he must once more sink himself in solitude.

A man is an artist only at certain moments, by an effort of will. Objects have the same appearance for everybody.

We were created to look at one another, weren't we?

Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression, a species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.

Taste! It doesn't exist. An artist makes beautiful things without being aware of it.

Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.

It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious - to cut out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own innocence of personality - he must once more sink himself in solitude. There is too much talk and gossip; pictures are apparently made, like stock-market prices, by competition of people eager for profit; in order to do anything at all we need (so to speak) the wit and ideas of our neighbors as much as the businessmen need the funds of others to win on the market. All this traffic sharpens our intelligence and falsifies our judgment.

You must aim high, not in what you are going to do at some future date, but in what you are going to make yourself do to-day. Otherwise, working is just a waste of time.