Movie actors disappear - any young person wouldn't know Cary Grant. They're going to disappear. Fifty years ago, you thought film was here to stay. But nothing is here to stay, actually - except perhaps paintings and drawings.

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.

You can't believe any picture nowadays, if it's digital. You can't really believe. If you see me shaking hands with Mr. [Barack] Obama, it doesn't mean I ever met him, does it?

I don't value prizes of any sort.

I'm a bit claustrophobic, I know that now.

It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather than what he says about his work.

Who's going to ask a painter to see a diploma? They'd say, 'Can I see your paintings?', wouldn't they?