You have to have a high conception, not of what you are doing, but of what you may do one day: without that, there's no point in working.

Work a great deal at evening effects, lamplight, candlelight, etc. The intriguing thing is not to show the source of the light but the effect of the lighting.

These women of mine are decent, simple human beings who have no other concern than that of their physical condition... it is as though one were watching through a keyhole.

No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.

The museums are here to teach the history of art and something more as well, for, if they stimulate in the weak a desire to imitate, they furnish the strong with the means of their emancipation.

I'll buy a bottle for anyone who can tell me what makes a picture beautiful!

Taste! It doesn't exist. An artist makes beautiful things without being aware of it.