71 Memorable Pablo Picasso Quotes

The long life of Pablo Picasso began in Spain in the year 1881. You may know him as one of the well known artists of all time. Picasso wasn’t just a painter though, he was also a sculptor, ceramicist, stage designer, and even a poet. He is also one of the fathers of Cubism.

At an early age, Picasso’s father began teaching him drawing and painting techniques. By the age of 13, Pablo was more skilled than his father and lost all interest in doing any of his schoolwork, instead he wanted to doodle and draw in his notebook. At 14, Picasso applied to the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, Spain. Although Pablo Picasso wasn’t the typical student they accepted, they made an exception for him because his entrance exam was just that good.

There are over 20,000 art pieces that Pablo Picasso created over his lifetime. His art is featured in museums all around the world. Between the years of 1939 and 1959, Pablo Picasso completed over 300 works of poetry and even completed two plays. Picasso was not at all a perfect man, he had many issues but so did all the great artists.

Pablo Picasso’s Most Interesting Quotes

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso

“One starts to get young at sixty, and then it’s too late.” – Pablo Picasso

“Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.” – Pablo Picasso

“I do not seek. I find.” – Pablo Picasso

“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” – Pablo Picasso

“I paint objects as I think them not as I see them.” – Pablo Picasso

Positive Aesthetic Quotes To Fit Your Sense of Style

“The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.” – Pablo Picasso

“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” – Pablo Picasso

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” – Pablo Picasso, Pablo Picasso: Metamorphoses of the Human Form : Graphic Works, 1895-1972

“Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” – Pablo Picasso

“Work is a necessity for man. Man invented the alarm clock.” – Pablo Picasso

“An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought.” – Pablo Picasso

“I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money.” – Pablo Picasso

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso

Frida Kahlo’s Inspiring Quotes

“It takes a long time to become young.” – Pablo Picasso

“Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso

“If you don’t know what color to take, take black.” – Pablo Picasso

“Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.” – Pablo Picasso

“God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.” – Pablo Picasso

“You can’t run a business without taking risks.” – Pablo Picasso

“Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good.” – Pablo Picasso

“The older you get the stronger the wind gets – and it’s always in your face.” – Pablo Picasso

“Every positive value has its price in negative terms… the genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.” – Pablo Picasso

“Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.” – Pablo Picasso

“Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.” – Pablo Picasso

“I don’t believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.” – Pablo Picasso

“I who have been involved with all styles of painting can assure you that the only things that fluctuate are the waves of fashion which carry the snobs and speculators; the number of true connoisseurs remains more or less the same.” – Pablo Picasso

“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.” – Pablo Picasso

“Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

“Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.” – Pablo Picasso

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” – Pablo Picasso

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso

“Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good.” – Pablo Picasso

“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.” – Pablo Picasso

“If I don’t have red, I use blue.” – Pablo Picasso

“It is personality with a penny’s worth of talent. Error which chances to rise above the commonplace.” – Pablo Picasso

“The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.” – Pablo Picasso

“The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?” – Pablo Picasso

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” – Pablo Picasso

“If I paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse… but surely you will see the wildness!” – Pablo Picasso

“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.” – Pablo Picasso

“Love is the greatest refreshment in life.” – Pablo Picasso

“When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.” – Pablo Picasso

“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.” – Pablo Picasso

“You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.” – Pablo Picasso

“It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction.” – Pablo Picasso

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso

“There are only two types of women: goddesses and doormats.” – Pablo Picasso

“Accidents, try to change them – it’s impossible. The accidental reveals man.” – Pablo Picasso

“One must act in painting as in life, directly.” – Pablo Picasso

“All art is erotic.” – Pablo Picasso

“You mustn’t always believe what I say. Questions tempt you to tell lies, particularly when there is no answer.” – Pablo Picasso

“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.” -Pablo Picasso

“Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.” – Pablo Picasso

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso

“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” – Pablo Picasso

Michelangelo’s Most Inspiring Quotes

“What one does is what counts and not what one had the intention of doing.” – Pablo Picasso

“This idea of art for art’s sake is a hoax.” – Pablo Picasso

“Go and do the things you can’t. That is how you get to do them.” – Pablo Picasso

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” – Pablo Picasso

“An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought.” – Pablo Picasso

“Is there anything more dangerous than sympathetic understanding?” – Pablo Picasso

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” – Pablo Picasso

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” – Pablo Picasso

“To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic.” – Pablo Picasso

“A picture lives by its legend – not by anything else.” – Pablo Picasso

“We don’t grow older we grow riper.” – Pablo Picasso

Van Gogh’s Most Intriguing Quotes

Pablo Picasso Video – 10 Amazing Facts about Picasso

This is an excellent video if you want a quick overview of Picasso’s life.

Watch it and you will learn 10 amazing facts. It’s a fun, quick, educational video.

 

Summary

Pablo Picasso is an idol to many people worldwide. The self confidence and courage this man had when creating and experimenting with his art is a huge influence to a lot of aspiring artists and even artists that have made a name for themselves already.

Picasso’s artwork is used in art classrooms, and he is a true legend in the art world. These quotes of his have also inspired people and will hopefully inspire you now.

After you read these quotes, you will see that not only was Pablo Picasso an inspiration, but you will see that self confidence of his showing through in every word he said. Some of these quotes may even make you laugh, Picasso seems like he was quite the character.

Image Credit: Daniel Capilla, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons