The painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen.

Meaning of the quote

The painter should not just copy what they see in front of them, but should imagine and create something new that others will want to see. This quote by the Swiss artist Paul Klee suggests that great art is not about simply replicating reality, but about using your creativity to show people a different way of looking at the world.

About Paul Klee

Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist whose highly individual style was influenced by various art movements. He was a natural draftsman who experimented with color theory and wrote extensively about it. Klee and his colleague, Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the Bauhaus school of art, design, and architecture in Germany. His works reflect his dry humor, childlike perspective, personal moods, beliefs, and musicality.

More about the author

More quotes from Paul Klee

Color possesses me. I don’t have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour: Color and I are one. I am a painter.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

A line is a dot that went for a walk.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

In the final analysis, a drawing simply is no longer a drawing, no matter how self-sufficient its execution may be. It is a symbol, and the more profoundly the imaginary lines of projection meet higher dimensions, the better.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

The worst state of affairs is when science begins to concern itself with art.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

When looking at any significant work of art, remember that a more significant one probably has had to be sacrificed.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

To emphasize only the beautiful seems to me to be like a mathematical system that only concerns itself with positive numbers.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

One does not lash hat lies at a distance. The foibles that we ridicule must at least be a little bit our own. Only then will the work be a part of our own flesh. The garden must be weeded.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

Nature is garrulous to the point of confusion, let the artist be truly taciturn.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

Everything vanishes around me, and works are born as if out of the void. Ripe, graphic fruits fall off. My hand has become the obedient instrument of a remote will.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

One eye sees, the other feels.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

Beauty is as relative as light and dark. Thus, there exists no beautiful woman, none at all, because you are never certain that a still far more beautiful woman will not appear and completely shame the supposed beauty of the first.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

The painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

He has found his style, when he cannot do otherwise.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

Children also have artistic ability, and there is wisdom in there having it! The more helpless they are, the more instructive are the examples they furnish us; and they must be preserved free of corruption from an early age.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)

Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.

Paul Klee

German-Swiss artist (1879-1940)