A biography for Hans Hofmannhasn’t been written yet.
“Through a painting we can see the whole world.”
“The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color.”
“Art cannot result from sophisticated, frivolous, or superficial effects.”
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”
“Painters must speak through paint, not through words.”
“An idea can only be materialized with the help of a medium of expression, the inherent qualities of which must be surely sensed and understood in order to become the carrier of an idea.”
“Art is magic... But how is it magic? In its metaphysical development? Or does some final transformation culminate in a magic reality? In truth, the latter is impossible without the former. If creation is not magic, the outcome cannot be magic.”
“Colors must fit together as pieces in a puzzle or cogs in a wheel.”
“It makes no difference whether a work is naturalistic or abstract; every visual expression follows the same fundamental laws.”
“When the impulses which stir us to profound emotion are integrated with the medium of expression, every interview of the soul may become art. This is contingent upon mastery of the medium.”
“Art is to me the glorification of the human spirit, and as such it is the cultural documentation of the time in which it is produced.”
“Being inexhaustible, life and nature are a constant stimulus for a creative mind.”
“In nature, light creates the color. In the picture, color creates the light.”
“Every art expression is rooted fundamentally in the personality and temperament of the artist.”