Top 41 Quotes by Ellsworth Kelly

The paintings to me are always canvas; sculpture has always been metal, though I have made sculpture in wood, also.

I learned my color in Europe. I've always been a colorist, I think. I started when I was very young, being a bird-watcher, fascinated by the bird colors.

All my work comes from perceiving. I kept seeing things that were brooding in me. I'm not a geometric artist.

Matisse draws what I call the essence of the plants. He leaves a shape open. He'll do a leaf and not close it. Everybody used to say, oh, I got it all from Matisse, and I said, 'Not really.'

I don't like acrylic because you can't get the density of color. And with each coat of oil paint, the surface gets better and richer.

I did not want windows, only skylights. I chose my painting wall as it has the best morning light.

The negative is just as important as the positive.

I like to be able to get swift curves in the plant drawings that are usually drawn in five to ten minutes.

I like silence.

When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I've got to draw. And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.