Edouard Manet Quotes & Sayings

#1. It is not enough to know your craft - you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more.

Edouard Manet

#2. Concision in art is a necessity and an elegance. The verbose painter bores: who will get rid of all these trimmings?

Edouard Manet

#3. There is only one true thing: instantly paint what you see. When you've got it, you've got it. When you haven't, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.

Edouard Manet

#4. Color is a matter of taste and of sensitivity.

Edouard Manet

#5. Above all, keep your colors fresh!

Edouard Manet

#6. In a face, look for the main light and the main shadow; the rest will come naturally - it's often not important. And then you must cultivate your memory, because Nature will only provide you with references. Nature is like a warden in a lunatic asylum. It stops you from becoming banal.

Edouard Manet

#7. There is no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other.

Edouard Manet

#8. The latest fashion ... is absolutely necessary for a painting. It's what matters most.

Edouard Manet

#9. Conciseness in art is essential and a refinement. The concise man makes one think; the verbose bores. Always work towards conciseness.

Edouard Manet

#10. If I'm lucky, when I paint, first my patrons leave the room, then my dealers, and if I'm really lucky I leave too.

Edouard Manet

#11. One must be of one's time and paint what one sees.

Edouard Manet

#12. No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else.

Edouard Manet

#13. There's no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other. There's always a difference. We all have a more or less crooked nose and an irregular mouth.

Edouard Manet

#14. You would hardly believe how difficult it is to place a figure alone on a canvas, and to concentrate all the interest on this single and universal figure and still keep it living and real.

Edouard Manet

#15. Every new painting is like throwing myself into the water without knowing how to swim.

Edouard Manet

#16. The country only has charms for those not obliged to stay there.

Edouard Manet

#17. Who is this Monet whose name sounds just like mine and who is taking advantage of my notoriety?

Edouard Manet

#18. The attacks of which I have been the object have broken the spring of life in me ... People don't realize what it feels like to be constantly insulted.

Edouard Manet