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Howard Hodgkin Quotes

Powerful Howard Hodgkin for Daily Growth

About Howard Hodgkin

**Howard Hodgkin (1932-2018)**: A renowned British painter known for his expressive abstract art, Howard Hodgkin was born on February 6, 1932, in London, England. Raised in an affluent Jewish family, he developed a love for art from a young age, often visiting the National Gallery with his mother. In 1950, Hodgkin attended the Camberwell School of Art, where he was influenced by artists like Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. He later studied at the Bath Academy of Art, Castle Acre, from 1953 to 1956, where his work began to evolve towards abstraction. In 1960, Hodgkin exhibited his paintings for the first time in London and was immediately recognized for his unique style. His works often depicted personal experiences, memories, and emotions, using rich colors and textures to convey a sense of time and place. Throughout his career, Hodgkin's work was exhibited extensively around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London. He was awarded numerous accolades, including a knighthood in 1992 for services to art. Despite his success, Hodgkin remained modest about his work, once stating, "The job of an artist is always to deepen your mystery." Howard Hodgkin passed away on March 9, 2018, leaving behind a significant body of work that continues to inspire and captivate audiences.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Painting is a way of keeping a diary."

This quote by Howard Hodgkin suggests that painting serves as a personal record or journal, allowing artists to capture their thoughts, feelings, and experiences over time. Through the act of creating art, they can document their emotional journey and artistic evolution in a tangible, visual form. Essentially, each painting becomes a unique snapshot of the artist's life at a particular moment.

"Art is about feeling, and feelings are difficult to describe in words, which is why I think art is such an important medium for communication."

The quote emphasizes that art serves as a powerful mode of expression beyond the limitations of language. Howard Hodgkin suggests that emotions, which are intrinsically subjective and challenging to articulate verbally, can be more effectively conveyed through artistic mediums. This statement underscores the importance and significance of art as a universal language that transcends cultural barriers, allowing individuals to communicate feelings and experiences in a profound and evocative way.

"I paint from memory because it's the only way I can do justice to my feelings."

This quote suggests that Howard Hodgkin paints based on his memories as a means to accurately express his emotions. By painting from memory, he taps into deeply personal experiences and feelings, thereby infusing his artwork with a unique emotional resonance. It implies a strong connection between the artist's emotional state and their creative output, using recollections as a way to transform intangible feelings into tangible art.

"Painting to me has always been a very private business."

This quote suggests that for Howard Hodgkin, painting is an intensely personal and intimate experience. It indicates that his artistic process was deeply rooted in solitude and self-expression, rather than public validation or collaboration. This perspective underscores the emotional depth and individuality inherent in his work, as he seems to have valued the exploration of his own feelings and experiences over external influences or expectations.

"Art is not about ideas. It's about feeling."

This quote by Howard Hodgkin emphasizes that art is more than just intellectual concepts; it is a medium for expressing and exploring emotions. In other words, art serves as a channel for artists to convey their feelings, experiences, or moods rather than solely presenting abstract ideas or theories. This perspective encourages the appreciation of art as an emotional response rather than solely an intellectual exercise.

I want my pictures to be things. I want them to be made up of marks that are physically and individually self-sufficient.

- Howard Hodgkin

Want, Made, Them, Self-Sufficient

The picture surface recedes just as much in the 20th century as it did in the 15th. The techniques of making pictures have hardly changed.

- Howard Hodgkin

Picture, Surface, Making, Hardly

Matisse was very clear about saying that you have to blow your own trumpet and explain yourself, which I think has been slightly forgotten.

- Howard Hodgkin

Explain, Very, Which, Blow

I am happy for people to talk about my pictures, but I wish devoutly that I was not expected to talk about them myself.

- Howard Hodgkin

Happy, I Am Happy, I Wish, Devoutly

A collection makes its own demands. Many artists have been collectors. I think of it rather as an illness. I felt it was using up too much energy.

- Howard Hodgkin

Think, Been, Using, Collectors

I fell through a crack for years. Historically, I am a nothing because I fit in no category. I can only be me.

- Howard Hodgkin

Nothing, Through, Am, Category

I once was interviewed and got so exasperated that I said, 'What do you want, a shopping list?' They kept asking, 'What's in this picture?'

- Howard Hodgkin

Want, Asking, List, Shopping

I think words come between the spectator and the picture.

- Howard Hodgkin

Words, Think, I Think, Spectator

My friends tend to be writers. I think writers and painters are really all the same-we just sit in our rooms.

- Howard Hodgkin

Think, I Think, Rooms, Sit

Collecting has been my great extravagance. It's a way of being. I collect for the same reason that I eat too much-I'm one of nature's shoppers.

- Howard Hodgkin

Reason, Been, Extravagance, Collect

In England, it's thought to be morally suspect to worry about what your surroundings look like.

- Howard Hodgkin

Worry, Thought, England, Suspect

I don't really have a historical overview of my work at all. I'm not an art historian. I don't see that there's this period and that period.

- Howard Hodgkin

Work, Art, Period, Overview

You keep on balancing and balancing and balancing until the picture wins, because then the subject's turned into the picture.

- Howard Hodgkin

Wins, Turned, Subject, Balancing

In the United States there has been a kind of a structure in the Modern art world. The New York School was nearly a coherent thing-for a minute.

- Howard Hodgkin

New, Been, United States, Structure

A painting is finished when the subject comes back, when what has caused the painting to be made comes back as an object.

- Howard Hodgkin

Painting, Subject, Caused, Object

I find old copies of National Gallery catalogues, which are written in the dryest possible prose, infinitely soothing.

- Howard Hodgkin

Prose, Which, Infinitely, Copies

I don't look at the work of my contemporaries very much; I tend to look at pictures by dead artists. It's much easier to get near their paintings.

- Howard Hodgkin

Work, Dead, Very, Near

I'm very envious of the few artists who are any good and still do portraits.

- Howard Hodgkin

Artists, Very, Still, Portraits

I'm vulnerable to criticism. Any artist is, because you work alone in your studio and, until recently, critics were the only way you'd get any feedback.

- Howard Hodgkin

Work, Artist, Studio, Vulnerable

When I finish a painting, it usually looks as surprising to me as to anyone else.

- Howard Hodgkin

Painting, Looks, Anyone, Finish

I don't think you can lightly paint a picture. It's an activity I take very seriously.

- Howard Hodgkin

Think, Very, Take, Paint

I am isolated as an artist, not as a person.

- Howard Hodgkin

I Am, Artist, Person, Isolated

I hate painting.

- Howard Hodgkin

Hate, Painting

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