Agnes Martin quotes

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings. That's the end. (Agnes Martin)
When I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence, and I still do, and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision. View quote
Agnes Martin
You can't make a perfect painting. We can see perfection in our minds. But we can't make a perfect painting. View quote
Agnes Martin
When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection. View quote
Agnes Martin
Happiness is being on the beam with life - to feel the pull of life. View quote
Agnes Martin
Pollock was terrific. I think he freed himself of all kinds of worry about this world. Ran around and dripped, and then he managed to express ecstasy. View quote
Agnes Martin
It takes time, see. You finish painting the painting and then you turn it to the wall. I mean, you say, does it have it or doesn't it have it? If it doesn't have it, you throw it away, but if you think it has it, you turn it to the wall. And then when you have made some more work, then you turn them all over. And you, again, try to see exactly what it does mean and just exactly how effectively you have rendered this meaning. View quote
Agnes Martin
I used to pay attention to the clouds in the sky... I paid close attention for a month to see if they ever repeated. They don't repeat. And I don't think life does either. It's continually various. That's the truth about life. View quote
Agnes Martin
It was so flat, you know, you could see the curves of the earth. And when a train came into vision at nine o'clock in the morning, it was still leaving at noon.... it took that long to get across the prairie. View quote
Agnes Martin
Inspiration is pervasive but not a power. It's a peaceful thing. It is a consolation even to plants and animals. Do not think that it is unique. If it were unique no one would be able to respond to your work. View quote
Agnes Martin
You can't be in an unconscious state and paint. Because whatever is in your mind, and not the subject matter, but the feelings that you have related to that subject matter, is what you're going to paint. So, the beginning is not actually painting, you know. The beginning of painting is not you put down green, and then you like pink, and you put down pink. Painting's not about that anymore than music is about this sound and that sound.... And it's something that drives you to expression. And it's irresistible. (Agnes Martin)
The little rectangle contradicts the square. And the square is authoritative... The rectangle is pleasant, whereas the square is not.... It's too stiff, too authoritative. My paintings are made up of little rectangles, not little squares There was a scholar who dug up a Tantric drawing that was just like my grid, and it was made of rectangles, too, just exactly like mine... I was surprised. I didn't think anybody had made a grid quite like that. View quote
Agnes Martin
Some things fail and others succeed. Well, then you get quite desperate, and you think: 'I am going to work and work and I'm not going to have any failures.' But then you find out that failures are inevitable; you can't even draw a straight line, you know that. View quote
Agnes Martin
The truth is that I have lived on an even keel. I don't go down, and I don't go up. I believe in living above the line. Above the line is happiness and love, you know. Below the line is all sadness and destruction and unhappiness. And I don't go down below the line for anything. View quote
Agnes Martin
My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind. View quote
Agnes Martin
To progress in life you must give up the things you do not like. Give up doing the things that you do not like to do. You must find the things that you do like. The things that are acceptable to your mind. View quote
Agnes Martin
Artwork is a representation of our devotion to life. View quote
Agnes Martin
I think everyone is born 100 percent ego, and after that it's just adjustment. View quote
Agnes Martin
I am staying unsettled and trying not to talk for three years. I want to do it very much. View quote
Agnes Martin
There's no indication or hint about the material world in my painting. No, I don't paint about the world. Everybody else is painting about the world. That's enough. View quote
Agnes Martin
When I draw horizontals you see this big plane and you have certain feelings like you're expanding over the plane Anything can be painted without representation. (Agnes Martin)
When a beautiful rose dies beauty does not die because it is not really in the rose. Beauty is an awareness in the mind. It is a mental and emotional response that we make. We respond to life as though it were perfect. When we go into a forest we do not see the fallen rotting trees. We are inspired by a multitude of uprising trees... The goal of life is happiness and to respond to life as though it were perfect is the way to happiness. It is also the way to positive art work. View quote
Agnes Martin
When I think of art, I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is in the mind, not in the eye. In our minds, we have an awareness of perfection that leads us on... The response to beauty is emotion. Sometimes very subtle emotions of which we are almost not aware, and sometimes our most powerful emotions.. View quote
Agnes Martin
To live truly and effectively the idea of achievement must be given up. Put unsentimental piety first, turn your back on the world, and get on with it. View quote
Agnes Martin
My interest is in experience that is wordless and silent, and in the fact that this experience can be expressed for me in art work which is also wordless and silent. View quote
Agnes Martin