Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.
Meaning of the quote
When an artist is no longer thinking too hard about what they're doing, that's when they create their best artwork. The quote suggests that the most successful painters are the ones who let their creativity flow naturally, without overthinking or trying too hard. It's about finding a balance between skill and spontaneity, where the painter can just focus on expressing themselves without worrying too much about the end result. This allows them to produce their most inspired and meaningful work.
About Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist known for his pastel drawings, oil paintings, and bronze sculptures. He is particularly famous for his depictions of dancers and bathing women, though he did not consider himself an Impressionist, preferring to be called a realist.
More quotes from Edgar Degas
In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it’s charming.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
Art is vice. You don’t marry it legitimately, you rape it.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one’s memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)
One must do the same subject over again ten times, a hundred times. In art nothing must resemble an accident, not even movement.
French Impressionist artist (1834-1917)