„I don't pretend to be a gentleman, but I am entitled to paint what I see“

„I paint what I see in America, in other words I paint the American scene.“

—  Stuart Davis American painter 1892 - 1964

Cited in: Ian Chilvers, "Davis, Stuart," in: The Oxford Dictionary of Art, (2994). p. 195

„When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a short of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.“

—  Jackson Pollock American artist 1912 - 1956

In 'Possibilities', Vol. 1, no 1, winter 1947-48, p. 79; as quoted in Jackson Pollock (1983) by Elizabeth Frank, p. 68
1940's

„I've painted for a very long time, but I don't get tired or bored by it; I love to do it. If I don't paint one day, I don't feel well physically or mentally. My eyes bother me when I don't paint. But when I paint a full day, I feel satisfied and everything seems to be OK. I would never stop, never retire. I don't see how people can retire; I don't understand that. My brother Moses died while he was painting. He was actually working on a painting, and the last words he said were to the model: "Phoebe, don't frown."“

—  Raphael Soyer American artist 1899 - 1987

Then he died. He worked to the very last minute.
As quoted in Paper Lanterns (Quotations from The Sun) p. 59.

„I don't paint, I hit.“

—  Karel Appel Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet 1921 - 2006

quote circa 1958; from the movie 'De werkelijkheid van Karel Appel', Jan Vrijman; as quoted in De Tweede Helft, Ad de Visser, SUN Nijmegen, 1998

„I don't paint things. I only paint the differences between things.“

—  Henri Matisse French artist 1869 - 1954

Je ne peins pas les choses. Je ne peins que les différences entre les choses.
"Henri Matisse: contre vents et marées : peinture et livres illustrés de 1939 à 1943"
1930s

„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.“

—  Arshile Gorky Armenian-American painter 1904 - 1948

Źródło: posthumous, Movements in art since 1945, p. 15: (in Gorky Memorial Exhibition, Schwabacher pp. 12)

„See, I never understand why my paintings hold together because I don't have any tricks for doing it and that is usually what makes a painting academic. There were some well-known devices for making a painting work hold together, ave cohesion. This seemed to be organized. But I don't necessarily have to know what the mechanism is. For me, what it really is, is something you have in yourself that makes you feel, it gives the painting a feeling of unity, of oneness, and being of all of one piece.“

—  Adolph Gottlieb American artist 1903 - 1974

Źródło: 1960s, Interview with Dorothy Seckler, 1967, p. 55-59.

„I make what it pleases me to make.... I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don't think that's a painter's business. He just paints paintings without a conscious reason. I intuitively paint flags.“

—  Jasper Johns American artist 1930

Quote of Jasper Johns, as cited in Trend to the Anti-Art: Targets and Flags, Newsweek 51 no. 13, March 1958, p. 96
1950s

„I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.“

—  Frida Kahlo Mexican painter 1907 - 1954

Quoted in Time Magazine, "Mexican Autobiography" (27 April 1953)
1946 - 1953

„A little after I started to do sculpture, I painted some of them, and then I destroyed them all. I've begun again several times. In 1951, I painted a whole series of sculptures. But in painting them, you see what the form lacks. And it's useless to paint over something that you don't believe in. I tried again a month ago. In painting them, the deficiencies of form came through.“

—  Alberto Giacometti Swiss sculptor and painter (1901-1966) 1901 - 1966

Alberto Giacometti in: Paul Auster (trans.) " My life is reduced to nothing: David Sylvester talks to Alberto Giacometti about his struggle with proportion and the difficulties of making an eye https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/jun/21/art.artsfeatures1," theguardian.com, 21 June 2003.

„I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.“

—  Frida Kahlo Mexican painter 1907 - 1954

Quoted from: Antonio Rodríguez, "Una pintora extraordinaria," Así (17 March 1945)
1925 - 1945
Wariant: I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.

„There is imagery. Symbolism is a difficult idea. I'm not a symbolist. In other words, these are painting experiences. I don't decide in advance that am going to paint a definite experience, but in the act of painting, it becomes a genuine experience for me. It's not symbolism any more than it's calligraphy. I'm not painting bridge constructions, skyscrapers or laundry tickets.... I don't paint a given object – a figure or a table; I paint an organization that becomes a painting.... it's not these things that get me started on a painting.“

—  Franz Kline American painter 1910 - 1962

1958
1960's, Talks with Seventeen Artists, 1962

„I have to paint fast on television because of the limited time, but I don't want people to see what I'm showing them as work, something to worry and fret over. This is supposed to be fun.“

—  Bob Ross American painter, art instructor, and television host 1942 - 1995

Judi Hunt (November 23, 1991) "Disciples of The Bob Ross Technique Find Joy in Learning They Can Paint", The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p. C1.

„Paintings are complex puzzles in the twilight world between abstraction and figuration. I use the medium in a simple, unsophisticated way to express what I don't see expressed anywhere else.“

—  Stefan Szczesny German painter and sculptor 1951

Mustique (2002)

„I can't say what they [his abstract paintings] are about. I don't think they are expressionistic. I don't know why people say that. Why not say they are like Chinese paintings or like batik? People also talk about the quality of light in the paintings. 'Ah, the light!' Or 'Ah, the space!“

—  Gerhard Richter German visual artist, born 1932 1932

It's phony reverence. It's ridiculous.
after 2000

„I paint things as they are. I don't comment. I record.“

—  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French painter 1864 - 1901

Quoted in: Henry O. Dormann (2009) The Speaker's Book of Quotations, Updated and Revised. p. 26
undated quotes

„I don't paint cows but light“

—  Willem Maris Dutch landscape painter of the Hague School (1844-1910) 1844 - 1910

version in original Dutch / origineel citaat van Willem Maris: Ik schilder geen koeien, maar licht.
2 short Quotes of Willem Maris, c. 1880; as cited in 'Schilder Maris' http://www.wittebrugpark.nl/wittebrugpark/schilders/maris/maris.htm (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

„I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.“

—  Pablo Picasso Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer 1881 - 1973

„It would be a sad thing for an artist if he knew how to paint. – so sad. An artist paints because it is a challenge to him – it is like trying to twist the devil. If you overcome it, there is no sport left. I don't even like to talk about painting. It is impossible to talk about painting because I don't know what it is. If I knew what it was I would get out a patent and then no one else would be able to paint.“

—  Arshile Gorky Armenian-American painter 1904 - 1948

1942 - 1948, A Painter in a Glass House' (1948)