A Curve does not exist in its full power until contrasted with a straight line. - Robert Henri
Good composition is like a suspension bridge; each line adds strength and takes none away... Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition. - Robert Henri
Art tends toward balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living – very good things for anyone to be interested in. - Robert Henri
The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. - Robert Henri
Art is the giving by each man of his evidence to the world. Those who wish to give, love to give, discover the pleasure of giving. Those who give are tremendously strong. - Robert Henri
Sometimes we do grip the concert in a human head, and so hold it that in a way we get a record of it into paint, but the vision and expressing of one day will not do for the next. - Robert Henri
Get the few main lines and see what lines they call out. - Robert Henri
The sketch hunter moves through life as he finds it, not passing negligently the things he loves, but stopping to know them, and to note them down in the shorthand of his sketchbook. - Robert Henri
If a certain activity, such as painting, becomes the habitual mode of expression, it may follow that taking up the painting materials and beginning work with them will act suggestively and so presently evoke a flight into the higher state. - Robert Henri
All real works of art look as though they were done in joy. - Robert Henri
Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them. - Robert Henri
Art is, after all, only a trace – like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness. - Robert Henri
There are mighty few people who think what they think they think. - Robert Henri
There is no art without contemplation. - Robert Henri
Concentrate on a single feature – as, build all toward one eye – make all lines lead toward that eye. () - Robert Henri
We read books. They make us think. It matters very little whether we agree with the books or not. - Robert Henri
There is always a commanding and simple line around each head. Learn to have a love for the big simple line. - Robert Henri
A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods. - Robert Henri
Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself. - Robert Henri
The most vital things in the look of a landscape endure only for a moment. Work should be done from memory; memory of that vital moment. - Robert Henri
Don't worry about your originality. You couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do. - Robert Henri
Do whatever you do intensely. - Robert Henri
Because we are saturated with life, because we are human, our strongest motive is life, humanity; and the stronger the motive back of the line the stronger, and therefore more beautiful, the line will be. - Robert Henri
I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living. - Robert Henri
Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture. A worker or painter should enjoy his work, else the observer will not enjoy it. - Robert Henri
A common defect of modern art study is that too many students do not know why they draw. - Robert Henri
Color is only beautiful when it means something. - Robert Henri