To be interested solely in technique would be a very superficial thing to me.

Meaning of the quote

The artist Andrew Wyeth is saying that if he only cared about how to make his art, without thinking about the deeper meaning or feelings behind it, that would be a very shallow and unimportant thing for him. He wants his art to have a deeper purpose and message, not just focus on the technical skills.

About Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth was a renowned American realist painter who worked predominantly in a regionalist style. He was known for his iconic painting “Christina’s World” and his series “The Helga Pictures.” Wyeth’s art was heavily influenced by nature, literature, and film, and he often drew inspiration from the people and landscapes around his homes in Pennsylvania and Maine.

More about the author

More quotes from Andrew Wyeth

I love to study the many things that grow below the corn stalks and bring them back to the studio to study the color. If one could only catch that true color of nature – the very thought of it drives me mad.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I’m a secretive bastard. I would never let anybody watch me painting… it would be like somebody watching you have sex – painting is that personal to me.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

To be interested solely in technique would be a very superficial thing to me.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I don’t really have studios. I wander around around people’s attics, out in fields, in cellars, anyplace I find that invites me.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

It’s a moment that I’m after, a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I search for the realness, the real feeling of a subject, all the texture around it… I always want to see the third dimension of something… I want to come alive with the object.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

To have all your life’s work and to have them along the wall, it’s like walking in with no clothes on. It’s terrible.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

At 18 I began painting steadily fulltime and at age 20 had my first New York show at the Macbeth Gallery.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

One’s art goes as far and as deep as one’s love goes.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

It’s all in how you arrange the thing… the careful balance of the design is the motion.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I dream a lot. I do more painting when I’m not painting. It’s in the subconscious.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

If you clean it up, get analytical, all the subtle joy and emotion you felt in the first place goes flying out the window.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing – then a work of art may happen.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I can’t work completely out of my imagination. I must put my foot in a bit of truth; and then I can fly free.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I surrendered to a world of my imagination, reenacting all those wonderful tales my father would read aloud to me. I became a very active reader, especially history and Shakespeare.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn’t show.

Andrew Wyeth

American Realist painter (1917-2009)