Being able to draw means being able to put things in believable space. People who don't draw very well can't do that.

The moment I got a very big studio, everything took off.

The camera can't see space. It sees surfaces. People see space, which is much more interesting.

I've finally figured out what's wrong with photography. It's a one-eyed man looking through a little 'ole. Now, how much reality can there be in that?

I was aware that the teaching of drawing was being stopped almost 30 years ago. And I always said, 'The teaching of drawing is the teaching of looking.' A lot of people don't look very hard.

You can't name the inventor of the camera. The 19th-century invention was chemical: the fixative.

And then I went round the corner and there's a Van Gogh portrait, and you just think, well, this is another level. A higher level, actually. I love the Sargent, but it's not the level of Van Gogh.