"The observer usually will see what his fears and hopes and learning teach him to see. But if he can escape these demands that hold up a mirror to himself, then perhaps some of the implications of the work may be felt. But whatever is seen of felt it should be remembered that for me these paintings had to be something else. It is the price one has to pay for clarity when one’s means are honoured only as an instrument of seduction or assault."

“I do not have a comic or tragic period in any real sense. I have always painted dark pictures; always some light pictures. I will probably go on doing so.. .Orchestral. My work in its entirety is like a symphony in which each painting has its part.”

“..the light suggests no particular time of day or night ; it is not appropriated from morning or afternoon, sunlight or shadow.”

“We are now committed to an unqualified art, not illustrating outworn myths or contemporary alibis. One must accept total responsibility for what he executes. And the measure of his greatness will be in the depth of his insight and his courage in realizing his own vision.”

“resources of the Clyfford Still museum in Denver, Colorado”

“..the idea that an artist is nothing unless he accepts the total responsibility for everything that he does.. ..by making a responsible move that he makes a statement.. .You can make a picture out of truth.”

“not paintings in the usual sense, they are life and death merging in fearful union.”