Oskar Kokoschka Quotes about Art

Oskar Kokoschka was a famous Austrian expressionist painter, draftsman and poet. He is best known for his expressive portraits and landscapes. Famous Oskar Kokoschka artworks include “The Bride of the Wind”, “The Myth of Prometheus”, “Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze-Conrat”, “Self-portrait of a Degenerate Artist”, “Adolf Loos”, “The Elbe Near Dresden”, “Augustus Bridge – Dresden”, “Girl with a Yellow Headband”, “Self-Portrait with Doll”, “Istanbul I”, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Portrait Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer”.

Mini biography: Born Oskar Kokoschka on the 1st of March, 1886 in Pöchlarn, Austria-Hungary. His mother was Maria Romana Loidl and his father Gustav Josef Kokoschka was a goldsmith. Kokoschka married the Czech woman Oldřiška ‘Olda’ Palkovská in 1941. He also had an intense relationship with Alma Mahler which culminated in him having a strange live sized art doll made of her when the relationship ended. The artist died on the 22nd of February, 1980 in Montreux, Switzerland at the age of 93. Kokoschka is buried at the Montreux Central Cemetery, Montreux, District de la Riviera-Pays-d’Enhaut, Vaud, Switzerland.

List of Famous Oskar Kokoschka Art Quotes

I cannot say why I wanted to paint. The only answer is in the pictures themselves. Oskar Kokoschka

I consider myself responsible to the coming generations, which are left stranded in a blitzed world, unaware of the soul trembling in awe before the mystery of life. Oskar Kokoschka

Open your eyes at last and see… now I will open the book of the world for you, there are no words in it, just pictures. Oskar Kokoschka

I cannot paint everybody. It is only people who are in my antennae – certain people whom I discovered an affinity with – with one facet of my own being. Oskar Kokoschka

True dreams and visions should be as visible to the artist as the phenomena of the objective world. Oskar Kokoschka

I try to keep my sitters moving and talking, to make them forget they are being painted. This has nothing to do with extracting intimate secrets or confessions, but rather with establishing, in motion, an essential image of the kind that remains in memory or recurs in dreams. Oskar Kokoschka

There is no such thing as a German, French, or Anglo-American Expressionism! There are only young people trying to find their bearings in the world. Oskar Kokoschka

A work of art is not an object of monetary value; it is a timid attempt by man to recreate the miracle of which every young woman is capable: to produce life from nothing. Hence, only women and artists have respect for life. Oskar Kokoschka

In the ‘Self-portrait of a Degenerate Artist’ I’ve used only my own private perspective… because it’s the expression of my whole being and only I can express my being as such. Oskar Kokoschka

Oskar Kokoschka Self Portrait Painting

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Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Georg Baselitz, Max Beckmann, and other Famous Austrian Artists.