Your pictures would have been finished a long time ago if I were not forced every day to do something to earn money.

C'est vrai. Voilá quelqu'un qui sent comme moi. (It is true. There is someone who feels as I do).

There are some women who should barely be spoken to; they should only be caressed.

And even this heart of mine has something artificial. The dancers have sewn it into a bag of pink satin, pink satin slightly faded, like their dancing shoes.

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

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.

Hitherto the nude has always been represented in poses which presuppose an audience. But my women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations... it is as if you were looking through a keyhole.