Realism is more important than the sentiment of the picture.

It's easy to have talent at 20 but what is difficult is to have talent at 50.

It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious - to cut out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own innocence of personality - he must once more sink himself in solitude. There is too much talk and gossip; pictures are apparently made, like stock-market prices, by competition of people eager for profit; in order to do anything at all we need (so to speak) the wit and ideas of our neighbors as much as the businessmen need the funds of others to win on the market. All this traffic sharpens our intelligence and falsifies our judgment.

What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming.

So that's the telephone? They ring, and you run.

People call me the painter of dancers, but I really wish to capture movement itself.

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.