Willem De Kooning Quotes

Style is a fraud. I always felt the Greeks were hiding behind their columns.

- Willem de Kooning

Whatever an artist's personal feelings are, as soon as an artist fills a certain area on the canvas or circumscribes it, he becomes historical. He acts from or upon other artists.

- Willem de Kooning

The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves.

- Willem de Kooning

My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.

- Willem de Kooning

I make pictures and someone comes in and calls it art.

- Willem de Kooning

Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure.

- Willem de Kooning

The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.

- Willem de Kooning

An artist is forced by others to paint out of his own free will.

- Willem de Kooning

I don't paint to live, I live to paint.

- Willem de Kooning