A painting is above all a product of the artist's imagination, it must never be a copy. If, at a later stage, he wants to add two or three touches from nature, of course it doesn't spoil anything.

What is certain is that setting a piece of nature in place and drawing it are two very different things.

Drawing is not what you see but what you must make others see.

Make a drawing. Start it all over again, trace it. Start it and trace it again.

Daylight is too easy. What I want is difficult - the atmosphere of lamps and moonlight.

A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people.

Realism is more important than the sentiment of the picture.