The secret is to follow the advice the masters give you in their works while doing something different from them.

The moods of sadness that come over anyone who takes up art... these dismal moods have very little compensation.

Truth is never ugly when one can find in it what one needs.

If painting weren't so difficult, it wouldn't be fun.

Copying nature - what is that supposed to mean? Follow the masters! But why should one follow them? The only reason they are masters is that they didn't follow…

I have three masters: Nature, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were e…