The Art Spirit

by Robert Henri

There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Sign-posts on the way to what may be. Sign-posts toward greater knowledge. — Robert Henri

You have to make up your mind to be alone in many ways.

We like sympathy and we like to be in company.

Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them.

We are not here to do what has already been done.

For an artist to be interesting to us he must have been interesting to himself. He must have been capable of intense feeling, and capable of profound contemplation.

Like any hunter he hits or misses. He is looking for what he loves, he tries to capture it. It’s found anywhere, everywhere.

It is all very fine to have your pictures hung, but you are painting for yourself, not for the jury.

You pass people on the street, some are for you, some are not.

(There is a time and place for all things, the difficulty is to use them only in their proper time and places.)

Work with great speed. Have your energies alert, up and active. Finish as quickly as you can. There is no virtue in delaying.

A thing that has not been begun cannot be finished.

The collar must go around the neck, must tell of its trip around the beautiful form.

We must paint only what is important to us, must not respond to outside demands. They do not know what they want, or what we have to give.

An artist should not be afraid of his tools. He should not be afraid to know.

If you want to know how to do a thing you must first have a complete desire to do that thing.

Things are not done beautifully. The beauty is an integral part of their being done.

The man who has honesty, integrity, the love of inquiry, the desire to see beyond, is ready to appreciate good art.

Beauty is the sensation of pleasure on the mind of the seer.

What you must express in your drawing is not “what model you had,” but “what were your sensations,” and you select from what is visual of the model the traits that best express you.

Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.

A teacher should be an encourager. An artist must have imagination. An artist who does not use his imagination is a mechanic.

An art student should read, or talk a great deal with those who have read.

Every individual should study his own individuality to the end of knowing his tastes.

It is harder to see than it is to express.

You can learn more from yourself than you can from anyone else.

Because a line is beautiful in one picture is no argument that it will be beautiful in another. It is all a matter of relation.

I sometimes wonder what my own work would have been if I could as a child have heard Wagner’s music, played by great musicians. I am sure the rhythm of it would have influenced my own work for all time.

I am not interested in art as a means of making a living, but I am interested in art as a means of living a life.

IT IS NOT EASY to know what you like.

It is harder to be simple than it is to be complex.

“Educate yourself, do not let me educate you—use me, do not be used by me.”

Art is simply a result of expression during right feeling.