My 49 French Quotes About Art (Instagram Bio)

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| By : Christine
I’m a retired 65 years old and I live in western Paris. Born in Alsace, I have always lived in this beautiful region of eastern France. Passionate about travel, culture and literature. Find me on Linkedin.

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Hello les amis !

Once again, I’m back with you for a new discovery.

As you already know, I’m a very curious person, which leads me to offer you a selection of 77 quotes about life.

But today, I’d like to present you with my top 49 French quotes on art.

And yes! We’ll only be talking about Art with a big “A” in this article.

So read on, because I’m sure you’re going to love it.

— Christine

Read also: 29 French Quotes About Food

49 Best French quotes about Art

Here’s my personal selection of 49 French quotes about art:

French quotes about architecture :

1 –“L’architecture est le jeu savant, correct et magnifique des volumes assemblés sous la lumière.”Le Corbusier

English translation : Architecture is the skilful, correct and magnificent interplay of volumes assembled under light.

My personal interpretation: This quote means that the source of architecture lies in light. In fact, light has been considered an integral part of architecture for centuries.


2 – “En architecture, le plan prime la façade.” – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

English translation: In architecture, the plan takes precedence over the façade.

My personal interpretation: In architecture, the plan is the basis of good design.


3 – ”Un monument est une idée faite pierre“- Charles Garnier

English translation: A monument is an idea made of stone

My personal interpretation: A monument is an idea made of stone, to say that the work of architecture finds its value when the idea has been well detailed from the ground up. 


4 – “Chaque projet est une aventure, une passion, le monde est fait de nombreux mondes superposés qui n’attendent que d’être explorés.”– Jean Nouvel

English translation: Every project is an adventure, a passion; the world is made up of many superimposed worlds just waiting to be explored.

My personal interpretation: Every architectural project must be an adventure, a passion that the architect must live.


5 – L’architecture doit parler de son temps et de son lieu, mais aspirer à l’universalité.Claude Perrault

English translation: Architecture must speak of its time and place, but aspire to universality.

My personal interpretation: “Architecture should capture the unique essence of its time and place of origin, but also aim to have timeless and global relevance.”

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French quotes about Architecture


6 – “Le monument de l’architecte, c’est sa bibliothèque.”– Henri Labrouste

English translation : The architect’s monument is his library.

My personal interpretation: Through this quotation, Henri Labrouste means that one recognizes a monument of architecture only by his works.


7 – Pour créer l’architecture, il faut une poignée de terre et ensuite faire un geste – Le Corbusier

English translation: To create architecture, you need a handful of earth and then make a gesture.

My personal interpretation: Simply put, earth and architectural gesture give birth to architecture. The gesture in architecture is the process that leads to the conception of a work.


8 – Je choisis un bloc et j’enlève tout ce qui n’est pas nécessaire.” -Auguste Rodin

English translation: I choose a block and remove everything that is not necessary.

My personal interpretation: We must therefore keep what is necessary in a work to convey an expression or a feeling.


French quotes about sculpture :

9 – “Dans chaque tête, il y a un monde et un espace infini autour.”– Alberto Giacometti

English translation: In every head, there is a world and an infinite space around it.

My personal interpretation: Through this quote, we just understand that every human being is unique in his or her own way.


10 – “Je vis pour mon art, malgré mon désespoir.” – Camille Claudel

English translation: I live for my art, despite my despair.

My personal interpretation: For him, art is his reason for living, despite the difficulties he encounters in his field. In other words, man lives by what he can do.

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French quotes about Sculpture


11 – “Pour être un bon sculpteur, il faut avoir le sens du dessin dans les doigts.”– Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

English translation: To be a good sculptor, you must have the sense of drawing in your fingers.

My personal interpretation: The good sculptor must know how to draw well by hand. You can’t be a sculptor and not know how to draw with your own fingers.


12 – “La sculpture est comme l’art du silence, elle exprime tout sans un mot.” – Étienne Maurice Falconet

English translation: Sculpture is like the art of silence, it expresses everything without a word.

My personal interpretation: Sculpture is a work of art that conveys messages without saying a word.


13 – “Ce que je fais n’est pas de la forme, c’est de la sculpture, c’est de la vie.”-Aristide Maillol

English translation: What I do is not form, it’s sculpture, it’s life.

My personal interpretation: For this artist, his works go beyond artistic creation. Sculpture is another form of life.                               


14 – “On ne peut rien exprimer de complet sans une certaine folie.” – François Rude

English translation : Nothing complete can be expressed without a certain amount of madness.

My personal interpretation: For him, one cannot express oneself without a certain madness. Madness is characterized by audacity. 


French quotes about Painting :

15 – “Je veux peindre l’air dans lequel se trouve le pont, la maison, le bateau. La beauté de l’air où ils sont, et ce n’est rien d’autre que l’impossible.”-Claude Monet           

English translation: I want to paint the air in which the bridge, the house, the boat are. The beauty of the air where they are, and that is nothing short of the impossible.

My personal interpretation: Through this quotation, Claude Monet wishes to paint the air while highlighting all kinds of color.                   


16 – “Pour moi, un tableau doit être une chose aimable, joyeuse et jolie. Il y a assez de choses embêtantes dans la vie.” – Pierre-Auguste Renoir

English translation : For me, a painting should be something amiable, joyful and pretty. There are enough annoying things in life.

My personal interpretation: With this quote, Pierre-Auguste wants to produce a painting that is beautiful, attractive and conveys a message.                     


17 – “La peinture est une pratique aveugle. Elle ne consiste pas à transcrire une idée, mais à traduire des sensations.”– Edgar Degas

English translation: Painting is a blind practice. It does not consist in transcribing an idea, but in translating sensations.

My personal interpretation: Degas through this quote, highlights painting by notifying that it is a that can translate strong sensations to a subject.


18 – “Faire de l’art, c’est embrasser le visible et le rendre transparent.” – Paul Cézanne

English translation: To make art is to embrace the visible and make it transparent.

My personal interpretation: For Paul, to make art, the artist must draw inspiration from the virtual. Draw inspiration from his surroundings to produce something of quality.      

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French quotes about Painting

                                


19 – “Il est plus important de bien placer son rouge que de peindre son modèle avec exactitude.” – Henri Matisse

English translation : It is more important to place your red correctly than to paint your model accurately.

My personal interpretation: Through this quote, Matisse was saying that color occupies a great place in an artistic work in general, but in painting in particular.                   


20 – “En art, il n’y a pas de progrès, seulement des changements de direction.” – Georges Braque

English translation: In art, there is no progress, only changes of direction.

My personal interpretation: Georges’ quote makes it clear that in the world of painting, there is no progress, only perfection.                                                       


21 – “Il n’y a pas de recettes en peinture. Il n’y a que des coups de balai.”– Édouard Manet

English translation: There are no recipes in painting. There are only sweeps.

My personal interpretation: Edouard’s quote simply explains that there is no single method or technique in painting. The important thing for him is to know how to sweep his painting.


French quotes about Music :

22 – “La musique est une mathématique mystérieuse dont les éléments participent de l’infini.” – Claude Debussy

English translation: Music is a mysterious mathematics whose elements participate in infinity.

My personal interpretation: For Claude, music is an inexplicable universe.


23 – “Chanter, c’est une façon de s’évader. C’est une autre vie.”   -Edith Piaf

English translation : Singing is a way of escaping. It’s another life.

My personal interpretation: For Edith, singing is about changing one’s life and living a passion. Escape from the usual world to experience another adventure.

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French quotes about Music


24 – “La vraie musique est silencieuse.”-Maurice Ravel

English translation: True music is silent.

My personal interpretation: For Maurice, making noise while singing is not music. An artist can practice his art in silence.                                       


25 – “La scène, c’est ma vie. Je suis né sur scène, et je mourrai sur scène.”– Charles Aznavour

English translation: The stage is my life. I was born on stage, and I will die on stage.

My personal interpretation: Charles finds the essence of his life in music. His whole existence is summed up on stage, expressing his art.                                         


26 – “L’art mineur qu’est la chanson doit être traité avec autant de sérieux que l’art majeur qu’est la musique.”Serge Gainsbourg

English translation: The minor art of song should be treated as seriously as the major art of music.

My personal interpretation: According to Serge, there’s no difference between song and music. Both should be treated in the same way.                                


27 – “La composition est une science que vous pouvez apprendre, mais l’inspiration est un cadeau de Dieu.”-Hector Berlioz

English translation: Composition is a science you can learn, but inspiration is a gift from God.

My personal interpretation: Hector emphasizes the distinction between composition and inspiration in music, while pointing out that you can learn to compose a song. But to have inspiration without being able to learn it is a gift from God. 


28 – “Danser, c’est comme parler en silence. C’est dire plein de choses sans dire un mot.”-Camille Saint-Saëns

English translation : The supreme quality of music is to take possession of consciousness.

My personal interpretation: For Camille, you can’t make music without a conscience. Through this art, a good artist must convey a conscientious message.


French quotes about Dance :

29 – “Danser, c’est comme parler en silence. C’est dire plein de choses sans dire un mot.”– Maurice Béjart

English translation: Dancing is like speaking in silence. It’s saying lots of things without saying a word.

My personal interpretation: Dance is an art that is lived in silence. More impressively, dance can convey emotions without saying a word.                                 

30 – “La danse, c’est une façon de vivre, la danse peut être de l’éducation, peut être de la culture, une façon de connaître le corps.”-Rudolf Nureyev

English translation: Dance is a way of life, dance can be education, can be culture, a way of knowing the body.

My personal interpretation: Rudolf sees dance as a form of existence that can distinguish two cultures. He goes further, saying that with dance, the artist has mastery over his body.   


31 – “La danse est le plus sublime, le plus émouvant, le plus beau de tous les arts, parce qu’elle n’est pas une simple traduction ou abstraction de la vie ; elle est la vie elle-même.”-Pierre Lacotte

English translation: Dance is the most sublime, the most moving, the most beautiful of all the arts, because it is not a mere translation or abstraction of life; it is life itself.” 

My personal interpretation: Lacotte’s quote gives value to dance. For him, dance is everything. In a few words, it’s life.                   


32 – “La danse, c’est le mouvement, et le mouvement, c’est la vie.” – Roland Petit

English translation: Dance is movement, and movement is life.

My personal interpretation: For Roland, dance, movement and life are words that converge. 

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French quotes about Dance


33 – “Quand je danse, je ne cherche pas à être meilleure que les autres. Je cherche à être meilleure que moi-même.”– Marie Taglioni

English translation: When I dance, I don’t try to be better than others. I seek to be better than myself.”

My personal interpretation: Dancing for Marie is not a competition. It is above all a way of surpassing oneself while mastering one’s body.                                                


34 – “La danse est une poésie muette.”-Serge Lifar

English translation: Dance is a silent poetry.

My personal interpretation: Serge was saying in his quote that dance is a silent art.                                    


35 – “Les gestes, les attitudes et les mouvements du corps sont les véritables caractères de la danse.”– Jean-Georges Noverre

English translation: Gestures, attitudes and body movements are the true characters of dance.

My personal interpretation: To dance is all the gestures, attitudes and movements of the body.                          


French quotes about Poetry :

36 – “La poésie est ce qu’il y a de plus réel, elle rend les choses plus présentes que la vie même.” – Victor Hugo

English translation: Poetry is what is most real, it makes things more present than life itself.

My personal interpretation: For Victor Hugo, poetry is the concrete form of life, since it makes it possible to present all things in life as they are. 


37 – “On n’est pas sérieux quand on a dix-sept ans.”– Arthur Rimbaud

English translation: One is not serious when one is seventeen.

My personal interpretation: For this thinker, at the age of 17 one is not reasonable.                                   


38 – “Un poème est une machine à faire rêver.”-Paul Valéry

English translation: A poem is a dream machine.

My personal interpretation: Paul Valéry is just explaining that a good poem is one with words that make you dream.     

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French quotes about Poetry

                                         


39 – “La poésie a une sainte mission ; elle doit, par l’attrait de la beauté, aider les hommes à vivre et à mourir.”– Charles Baudelaire

English translation: Poetry has a holy mission; it must, through the attraction of beauty, help men to live and to die.

My personal interpretation: For Charles, poetry is an art that can give birth to life.


40 – “Il n’y a pas de hasard, il n’y a que des rendez-vous.”-Paul Éluard

English translation : There is no chance, there are only appointments.

My personal interpretation: For Paul Eluard, chance doesn’t exist in life, there are only appointments.                             


41 – “La poésie est un cri, la poésie est un rire, la poésie est un jeu, tout ce qui rend plus léger le poids de la vie.”– André Breton

English translation : Poetry is a cry, poetry is a laugh, poetry is a game, everything that makes the weight of life lighter.

My personal interpretation: Poetry is an art that cannot find its existence in silence. It is characterized by shouting, laughter or play.                               


42 – “La poésie est l’expression, par le langage humain ramené à son rythme essentiel, du sens mystérieux de l’existence.” -Stéphane Mallarmé

English translation : Poetry is the expression, through human language reduced to its essential rhythm, of the mysterious meaning of existence.

My personal interpretation: With this quote, Stéphane is just affirming that poetry is a form of human language.                                         


French quotes about Cinema :

43 – Le cinéma, c’est la plus belle escroquerie du monde.”– Jean-Luc Godard

English translation : Cinema is the greatest swindle in the world.

My personal interpretation: Cinema is the art that the most beautiful swindle of the world for him this art is only fiction.


44 – “Faire un film, c’est comme faire l’amour : on ne sait jamais si ça sera un chef-d’œuvre, mais on le fait quand même.”– François Truffaut

English translation: Making a film is like making love: you never know if it will be a masterpiece, but you do it anyway.

My personal interpretation: For François Truffaut making a film is like making love, because there’s no certainty that at the end of making the film, the work will be a jewel appreciated by all.


45 – “J’ai toujours considéré le cinéma comme un pont jeté entre les gens.”– Gérard Depardieu

English translation: I’ve always seen cinema as a bridge between people.

My personal interpretation: Gérard’s quote makes it clear that in the world of cinema, everything seems to be calculated.                  

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French quotes about Cinema

                             


46 – “Le cinéma est l’art de faire faire de jolies choses à de jolies femmes.”– Marion Cotillard

English translation: Cinema is the art of making pretty women do pretty things.

My personal interpretation: with this quote, Marion wants to prove that cinema is made up of a mix of fiction and truth. To please, you have to do little things to make it the best it can be.                                           


47 – “Je ne suis pas une documentariste, je suis une anar…chiste.”– Agnès Varda

English translation: I’m not a documentarist, I’m an anar…chist.

My personal interpretation: With this quote, she expresses not being a documentary filmmaker but rather an anarchist.                                     


48 – “L’art du comédien, c’est de montrer une émotion qu’il n’éprouve pas. L’art du cinéaste, c’est de faire éprouver cette émotion au spectateur.”– Jacques Tati

English translation: The actor’s art is to show an emotion he doesn’t feel. The filmmaker’s art is to make the spectator experience this emotion.

My personal interpretation: Cinema is about conveying an emotion you don’t feel to a viewer.             


49 – “On peut faire du cinéma partout, c’est vrai, mais on ne peut le faire bien que dans certains endroits.”– Catherine Deneuve                                   

English translation: You can make cinema anywhere, it’s true, but you can only make it well in certain places.”

My personal interpretation: For Catherine, cinema can be made anywhere, but for it to be made well, you need specific locations.


That’s it, folks!

We’re at the end.

I hope you’ve enjoyed it !

I suggest you make your choice from among the 49 quotes and write it on an art board in your bedroom.

Just for decoration ! 🙂

— Christine

PS : don’t hesitate to share your best French quotes about Art in comments



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