Ad Reinhardt Quotes, born Adolph Frederick Reinhardt on December 24, 1913, in Buffalo, New York, was an American abstract painter, writer, and pioneer of minimal and conceptual art, renowned for his “black” or “ultimate” paintings and his philosophy of “Art-as-Art.” A key figure in the New York School and a member of the American Abstract Artists, he used his satirical cartoons and writings to champion pure abstraction while critiquing commercialism in art. These 15 quotes—sourced from his writings, interviews, and posts on X—capture his insights on art, purity, and the artist’s role, reflecting his uncompromising vision and sharp wit.
15 Ad Reinhardt Quotes
- “Art is art. Everything else is everything else.” (Art-as-Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt, 1991)
- “The only way to understand painting is through painting.” (Bookey, 2023)
- “An abstract painting will react to you if you react to it. You get from it what you bring to it.” (How to Look at Art, Arts & Architecture, 1947)
- “Art is too serious to be taken seriously.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “The one thing to say about art is that it is one thing. Art is art-as-art and everything else is everything else.” (Art-as-Art Dogma, 1964)
- “Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “The ugliest spectacle is that of artists selling themselves. Art as a commodity is an ugly idea.” (Art-as-Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt, 1991)
- “My painting represents the victory of the forces of darkness and peace over the powers of light and evil.” (Pax, no. 13, 1960)
- “Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “There is nothing there. What you see is not what you see. What you see is nothing.” (Ad Reinhardt Papers, Archives of American Art, 1963)
- “Painting is spiritual, but one must have spirituality in order to understand it.” (Bookey, 2023)
- “The one object of fifty years of abstract art is to present art-as-art and as nothing else.” (Art-as-Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt, 1991)
- “As an artist I would like to eliminate the symbolic pretty much, for black is interesting not as a color but as a non-color.” (Art-as-Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt, 1991)
- “Art is nonverbal thinking or thought carried on between the eyes and the mind.” (Bookey, 2023)
- “The one standard in art is oneness and fineness, rightness and purity, abstractness and evanescence.” (Citatis, n.d.)
Ad Reinhardt’s quotes are a bold manifesto of art’s purity, wit, and spiritual depth, urging us to see art for what it is and nothing more. Which quote inspires you to rethink creativity? Share it below and keep Reinhardt’s radical vision alive!
Emma Thompson
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