Home / Authors / Josef Albers

Josef Albers Quotes

Artist

Josef Albers was a German-born American artist known for his contributions to color theory and visual art. His works, characterized by strict geometric forms and color studies, have had a profound impact on modern art.

Filter quotes by topic

All Art Color Art Is Ifs Painter Humans Men Paint Painting Way Behave Concerned Different Influence Knows Order Secret Teacher Thinking Years

Famous Josef Albers Quotes

“Whether something 'has color' or not is as hard to define verbally as are such questions as, 'What is music?' or 'What is musical?”

Hard Color Musical

Book:Interaction of Color

Source: Interaction of Color

“Color deceives continuously.”

Color Deceiving

Author:Josef Albers

“We never really perceive what color really is, as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.”

Art Facts Motivational Color Mediums Perceive Relative Visual Perception

Author:Josef Albers

“Every perception of color is an illusion, we do not see colors as they really are. In our perception they alter one another.”

Color Perception Illusion

Author:Josef Albers

“I want color and form to have contradictorily functions.”

Want Form Color Function

Author:Josef Albers

“As basic rules of a language must be practiced continually, and therefore are never fixed, so exercises toward distinct color effects never are done or over. New and different cases will be discovered time and again.”

Different Done Language Cases Effects Color Exercise Fixed

Book:Interaction of Color

Source: Interaction of Color

“It's the only dish I serve my craziness for color in.”

Color Dishes Craziness

Author:Josef Albers

Influence Color Carrie Hue

Author:Josef Albers

“Independent of harmony rules, any color 'goes' or 'works' with any other color, presupposing that their quantities are appropriate.”

Color Harmony Independent Appropriate Quantity

Book:Interaction of Color

Source: Interaction of Color

“Color is like cooking. The cook puts in more or less salt, that's the difference!”

Differences Color Cooking Cooks Salt

Author:Josef Albers

“Simultaneous contrast is not just a curious optical phenomenon – it is the very heart of painting. Repeated experiments with adjacent colors will show that any ground subtracts its own hue from the colors which it carries and therefore influences.”

Heart Shows Influence Color Painting Experiments Curious Carrie Phenomenon Contrast Hue Simultaneous

Author:Josef Albers

“I think art parallels life; it is not a report on nature or on intimate disclosure of inner secrets. Color, in my opinion, behaves like man -- in two distinct ways: first in self-realization and then in the realization of relationships with others.”

Thinking Men Way Firsts Art Two Self Secret Opinion Color Self Realization Realization Behave Intimate Reports Parallels Disclosure Relationships With Others

Author:Josef Albers

“In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually.”

Use Light Order Color Deceiving

Book:Interaction of Color

Source: Interaction of Color

“We never really perceive what color is physically!”

Color Perceive

Author:Josef Albers

“If one says “Red” (the name of a color) and there are 50 people listening, it can be expected that there will be 50 reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.”

People Ifs Mind Different Names Color Listening Red Expected Fifty Color Red

Author:Josef Albers

About the Author

Born: March 19, 1888
Died: March 25, 1976
Known for: Artist
Quotes: 63

Books & Sources

Interaction of ColorRelated source material

Josef Albers: a national touring exhibition from the South Bank Centre 1994Related source material

The prints of Josef Albers: a catalogue raisonné, 1915-1976Related source material

Similar Authors

Roger BissiereBrowse related quotes
Wassily KandinskyBrowse related quotes
Walter Darby BannardBrowse related quotes
Pablo PicassoBrowse related quotes
Vlady Kibalchich RussakovBrowse related quotes
Gerhard RichterBrowse related quotes
Piet MondrianBrowse related quotes
Georges BraqueBrowse related quotes
Paul GauguinBrowse related quotes
Johannes IttenBrowse related quotes