“I don't paint cows but light”

— Willem Maris

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)

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Willem Maris 7

Dutch landscape painter of the Hague School (1844-1910) 1844–1910

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“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 (1932) German visual artist, born 1932

It's phony reverence. It's ridiculous.
after 2000, Gerhard Richter: An Artist Beyond Isms' (2002)

“The cow exists for the light that comes to glide along and over the animal - the light doesn't exist for he cow.”

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

version in original Dutch / origineel citaat van Willem Maris: De koe is er om het licht, dat langs en over het dier komt glijden - het licht niet om de koe.

“Painting is very private and personal. There's an emotional content, but I'm more involved in the light and color and drawing of a painting. I don't set out to portray an emotion.”

Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) American artist

Quote from an interview in 'The Post', 1972; as cited in 'Helen Frankenthaler, noted abstract painter, dies at 83' https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/helen-frankenthaler-noted-abstract-painter-dies-at-83/2011/12/27/gIQAwr0dLP_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.08d9ecdb8773, Matt Schudel, December 27, 2011
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“If I paint a girl in the sunlight, it's the sunlight I am painting, not the real girl; and even fort hat I should have the sunlight on my palette. I don't care for an accidental effect of light and shade, a thing of 'mere charm.”

André Derain (1880–1954) French painter and engraver

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“I have many ideas for lights. I will paint only lights at night. [on the twinkling city-lights]”

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“We speak of concrete and not abstract painting because nothing is more concrete, more real then a line, a colour, a surface. A woman, a tree, a cow; are these concrete elements in a painting? No. A woman, a tree and a cow are concrete only in nature; in painting they are abstract, illusionistic, vague and speculative. However, a plane is a plane, a line is a line and no more or no less than that. 'Concrete paintin.”

Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931) Dutch architect, painter, draughtsman and writer

Spirit has arrived at the age of maturity...
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“I don't paint things. I only paint the differences between things.”

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Je ne peins pas les choses. Je ne peins que les différences entre les choses.
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“In studying the problem of the painting of Christ's figure, I found it to be the painting of the great problem of life. To me He was the bringer of light to the darkness of the world. Many of the French artists wished to find the light in Nature. I wished to find the light within the figure that I was presenting. In Christ I grasped the embodiment of the outward and the inward light.”

Fritz von Uhde (1848–1911) German artist

Context: In studying the problem of the painting of Christ's figure, I found it to be the painting of the great problem of life. To me He was the bringer of light to the darkness of the world. Many of the French artists wished to find the light in Nature. I wished to find the light within the figure that I was presenting. In Christ I grasped the embodiment of the outward and the inward light. I wished to bring things out of the darkness, as Rembrandt found all things through light.

“I don't paint, I hit.”

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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 cows but light”

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Willem Maris 7

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