Ad Reinhardt Quotes
Born: December 24, 1913
Ad Reinhardt, the American abstract painter and conceptualist, was a radical minimalist whose art and words dissected the very nature of creativity. Though rooted in the mid-20th century art world, his philosophy—that true innovation demands relentless simplification and the courage to say no—resonates powerfully with today’s tech pioneers. Reinhardt believed that the most profound breakthroughs emerge from disciplined clarity, not chaos. His famous black canvases were not voids but ultimate statements of purity. For those building the future, his quotes are a masterclass in focus, reminding us that the hardest work is often removing the unnecessary, leaving only what is essential.
Ad Reinhardt Quotes (10)
"Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting."
— Ad Reinhardt"Art is too serious to be taken seriously."
— Ad Reinhardt"Art is Art. Everything else is everything else."
— Ad Reinhardt"Now almost every artist outside of New York is connected with some school or some museum school, and even in New York the majority are. That's an interesting fact when you take the idea of making money, making a living selling paintings. Only a dozen or two painters do that."
— Ad Reinhardt"I taught a lot of art history, especially Chinese, Japanese, and Indian. But the painting classes came back. The nudes came back. Not so much the still lifes. So now our department is the worst department, partly because it has the worst facilities."
— Ad Reinhardt"I tried to oppose the academic to the marketplace."
— Ad Reinhardt"The job at Brooklyn is interesting because Brooklyn reflects what happened to university art departments everywhere. It might be the worst department now, and yet at one point it was the best in the country."
— Ad Reinhardt"Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything."
— Ad Reinhardt"If some student came up and wanted to know where to study painting, you'd want to suggest someplace, but there's no place. I wouldn't know where to send a student to study."
— Ad Reinhardt"Art is Art. Everything else is everything else."
— Ad Reinhardt