"A painting is complete when it has the shadows of a god."

Rembrandt Art See all quotes by Rembrandt →

React to this quote

More by Rembrandt

“Because of the great zeal and devotion which I experienced in executing well the two pictures which His Highness commissioned me to make - the one being Christ's dead body being laid in the tomb , and the other Christ arising from the dead to the consternation of the guards — these same two pictures are now finished through studious application, so that I am now disposed to deliver the same and so to afford to His Highness. For in these two paintings the greatest and most natural movement has been expressed , which is also the main reason why they have taken so long to execute.”

“Web Catalogue of Rembrandt's Paintings”

“would not touch the painting, nor finish it unless the claimant pays him the balance due or guarantees it by giving a security.”

“Rembrandt at MuseumSyndicate”

“Choose only one master — Nature.”

“Truth in labeling" by Gary Schwartz in Art in America”

Resonant Thoughts

"The Futurists were the first painters, poets, and architects who exalted modern work with their art—"

— Fortunato Depero

Art1892–1960

#art

"There is, therefore, no difficulty in answering such questions as these. What cause was there why the Universe was placed in such a part of Space? and, Why was the Universe created at such a Time? for…"

— Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

Philosophy1703–1758

#art

"Ironically, the founders of the republic have been hailed and lionized by left, right, and center for—in effect—creating the first apartheid state."

— Gerald Horne

History1949

#art

"Creation of absolutely the first rank — in philosophy, in music, in much of literature, in mathematics — continues to occur outside the American milieu. It is at once taken up and intelligently exploi…"

— George Steiner

Literature1929–2020

#art