By painting colors and lines and forms seen in quickened mood I was seeking to make this mood vibrate as a phonograph does. This was the origin of the paintings in The Frieze of Life.

My father was temperamentally nervous and obsessively religious—to the point of psychoneurosis. From him I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born.

Without fear and illness, I could never have accomplished all I have

I have no fear of photography as long as it cannot be used in heaven and in hell.

Photography is an art which touches and grips one's own heart's blood.

My breakthrough came very late in life, really only starting when I was 50...I had the strength for new deeds and ideas.

It was always my intention that The Frieze should be housed in a room which would provide a suitable architectural frame for it.