Oscar Niemeyer Quotes

I search for surprise in my architecture. A work of art should cause the emotion of newness.
Oscar Niemeyer

Work, Art, Surprise

It was the drawing that led me to architecture, the search for light and astonishing forms.
Oscar Niemeyer

Light, Drawing, Search

Architecture is invention.
Oscar Niemeyer

Curves are the essence of my work because they are the essence of Brazil, pure and simple.
Oscar Niemeyer

Work, Simple, Pure

For me beauty is valued more than anything - the beauty that is manifest in a curved line or in an act of creativity.
Oscar Niemeyer

Beauty, Creativity, Act

Form follows beauty.
Oscar Niemeyer

Beauty, Follows

Humanity needs dreams to be able to survive the miseries of daily existence, even if only for an instant.
Oscar Niemeyer

Dreams, Daily, Humanity

I am a Brazilian before I am an architect. I cannot separate the two.
Oscar Niemeyer

Two, Before, Cannot

I enter my studio at 9 a.m. I have lunch here, I return right away to my work and I go out to dinner at 8 p.m. My daily tasks vary very much.
Oscar Niemeyer

Work, Daily, Away

I like talking to priests, to Catholics. Everyone has their beliefs.
Oscar Niemeyer

Everyone, Talking, Beliefs

I pick up my pen. It flows. A building appears. There it is. There is nothing more to say.
Oscar Niemeyer

Nothing, Building, Pick

I think of myself as no more than 60. What I could do at 60, I can still do now.
Oscar Niemeyer

It is not with architecture that one can disseminate any political ideology.
Oscar Niemeyer

Political, Ideology

My work is not about 'form follows function,' but 'form follows beauty' or, even better, 'form follows feminine.'
Oscar Niemeyer

Beauty, Work, Feminine

Right angles don't attract me. Nor straight, hard and inflexible lines created by man.
Oscar Niemeyer

Hard, Nor, Straight

Surprise is key in all art.
Oscar Niemeyer

Art, Surprise, Key

The artistic capability of reinforced concrete is so fantastic - that is the way to go.
Oscar Niemeyer

Fantastic, Artistic, Concrete

The challenge of a cathedral is very good for architectural inventiveness.
Oscar Niemeyer

Good, Challenge, Cathedral

There is no reason to design buildings that are more basic and rectilinear, because with concrete you can cover almost any space.
Oscar Niemeyer

Design, Reason, Almost

When students leave college, they are like children who know nothing about the problems of life, and don't have a political stance.
Oscar Niemeyer

Life, Children, Political

Architecture is my work, and I've spent my whole life at a drawing board, but life is more important than architecture. What matters is to improve human beings.
Oscar Niemeyer

Life, Work, Important

Architecture will always express the technical and social progress of the country in which it is carried out. If we wish to give it the human content that it lacks, we must participate in the political struggle.
Oscar Niemeyer

Struggle, Political, Human

Of course, I have given my engineers some headaches over the years, but they go with me. I have always wanted my buildings to be as light as possible, to touch the ground gently, to swoop and soar, and to surprise.
Oscar Niemeyer

Light, Wanted, Engineers

Sometimes I lose a whole morning waiting on journalists and other people who look for me. But I always find some time for reading, talking to my friends and feeling what is happening in this world.
Oscar Niemeyer

Time, Morning, Waiting

When I was very little my mother said I used to draw in the air with my fingers. I needed a pencil. Once I could hold one, I have drawn every day since.
Oscar Niemeyer

Mother, Said, Once

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Biography

Nationality: Brazilian

Type: Architect

Born: December 15, 1907

Died: December 5, 2012

Links

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Cite this Page: Citation

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