Ernst Gombrich Quotes

#1. If you ask me what the world looks like to me, it looks like a painting by Pissarro.

Ernst Gombrich

#2. All the old bogeys of 'dignified subject-matter,' of 'balanced compositions,' of 'correct drawing' were laid to rest. The artist was responsible to no one but his own sensibilities for what he painted and how he painted it.

Ernst Gombrich

#3. All artistic discoveries are discoveries not of likenesses but of equivalencies which enable us to see reality in terms of an image and an image in terms of reality.

Ernst Gombrich

#4. During the days of my youth, critics and art-lovers resorted freely to this term of abuse. Even some of the most renowned Old Masters were also pilloried as having manufactured insipid and sugary paintings that were offensive to good taste.

Ernst Gombrich

#5. Seeing depends on knowledge / And knowledge, of course, on your college / But when you are erudite and wise / What matters is to use your eyes.

Ernst Gombrich

#6. It took some time before the public learned that to appreciate an Impressionist painting one has to step back a few yards, and enjoy the miracle of seeing these puzzling patches suddenly fall into one place and come to life before our eyes.

Ernst Gombrich

#7. All art is image making and all image making is the creation of substitutes.

Ernst Gombrich

#8. Art does not copy nature - it suggests it.

Ernst Gombrich

#9. The Painter must leave the beholder something to guess.

Ernst Gombrich

#10. One cannot explain the existence of genius. It is better to enjoy it.

Ernst Gombrich