black
grey
blue
red
brown
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There’s nobody living who couldn’t stand all afternoon in front of a waterfall …. Anyone who can sit on a stone in a field awhile can see my painting.

Agnes Martin

I often paint tranquility. If you stop thinking and rest, then a little happiness comes into your mind. At perfect rest you are comfortable.
AGNES MARTIN

Happiness Mind Often Paint Perfect Stop Think Thinking Tranquility
The happiness of every living thing is what we want.
AGNES MARTIN

Every Happiness Living Thing Want
I paint with my back to the world
AGNES MARTIN

Back Paint World
Anything can be painted without representation.
AGNES MARTIN

Anything Painting Representation
It’s not about facts, it’s about feelings. It’s about remembering feelings and happiness.
AGNES MARTIN

Art Fact Feeling Happiness Remembering Thinking
The artist works by awareness of his own state of mind.
AGNES MARTIN

Artist Awareness Mind Own State Work
Beauty and happiness and life are all the same and they are pervasive, unattached and abstract and they are our only concern.
AGNES MARTIN

Abstract Art Beauty Happiness Perfect Pervasive Sublime Unattached
The Minimalists are idealist. They want to minimise themselves in favour of the ideal. But I just can’t. You see, my paintings are not cool.
AGNES MARTIN

Favour Idea Idealist Minimalist Minimise Themselves Want
What we really want to do is serve happiness. We want everyone to be happy, never unhappy even for a moment. We want the animals to be happy.
AGNES MARTIN

Animal Everyone Happiness Really Serve Unhappy Wanted
I want to emphasize the fact that we all have the same experience and the same concern, but the artist must know exactly what the experience is. He must pursue the truth relentlessly.
AGNES MARTIN

Artist Concern Emphasize Exactly Experience Feet Mind Pursue Relentlessly Same
I hope I have made it clear that the work is about perfection as we are aware of it in our minds but that the paintings are very far from being perfect – completely removed in fact – even as we ourselves are.
AGNES MARTIN

Art Aware Hope Made Mind Ourself Perfect Perfection
I’m very careful not to have ideas, because they’re inaccurate.
AGNES MARTIN

Careful Idea Inaccurate
That which takes us by surprise-moments of happiness-that is inspiration.
AGNES MARTIN

Art Happiness Inspiration Moment Surprise Take
I want to say that they are not what they seem to be. I want to say that all that seems like fantastic mistakes are not mistake.
AGNES MARTIN

Fantastic Like Mistake Seem Wanted
I would like my work to be recognized as being in the classical tradition (Coptic, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese), as representing the Ideal in the mind. Classical art cannot possibly be eclectic.
AGNES MARTIN

Art Classical Memories Perfection Tradition
When I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence, and I still do, and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision.
AGNES MARTIN

First Grid Happenedm Innocense Made Mind Satisfy Think Thinking Tree

There’s nobody living who couldn’t stand all afternoon in front of a waterfall …. Anyone who can sit on a stone in a field awhile can see my painting.

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There’s nobody living who couldn’t stand all afternoon in front of a waterfall …. Anyone who can sit on a stone in a field awhile can see my painting.

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