Some reflections

from Bernard Bouts Journal

An artist must be generous in his work.

Research "constants" in the art of the great periods and use it intelligently.

Neither system nor ticks.

Free rhythms.

The statics; avoid gestures as much as possible.

Supress the chiaroscuro and shadows because they are fleeting.

Draw a line, but a live line, without complacency or cuts. The line is the most direct evidence of what is most intimate in the personality.

Personality is the last thing to look for, it appears by itself, if it exists. In fact, every work, painting or sculpture, means a good part of handicrafts.

Avoid psychological expressions so as to keep only the expression of the shape, which is the influx of life.

Do not use the geometric perspective, because it removes the decorative sense, first quality of any painting.

Reject sensationalism: the original work is stunning in itself.

It is necessary to have so many techniques, that it is as if there are no techniques at all. The work should not feel the effort, but should not give the impression of having been abandoned midway either.

It is much easier to "represent" physical acts than suggest things of the spirit.

If by any chance you enter a "hyper-realistic” school, you must get out of it quickly. Abstraction is not a quality in itself. Neither is figure. It is the way that counts.

By the word form, I do not mean the external form of objects, which by the way changes with the angle of view, with the lighting but I mean the quality of this form. The former is only the support or even the pretext of the latter. It depends on a multitude of factors, which the most important source is the growth of life, if I may say, and that translates into a work of art the movement of the spirit, i.e., the soul. It is the movement of the soul that counts, the quality of the movement of the soul, translated by shapes and colors, or by words assembled in a certain order, after being carefully chosen.

In painting, there is no intellectual reason, there must only exist the image, pictorial reasons.

Having talent means certainly to have creative imagination but also recognize and have all the resources of language.

Transpose of P. Valéry