I felt as if there were invisible threads connecting us - I felt the invisible strands of her hair still winding around me - and thus as she disappeared completely beyond the sea - I still felt it, felt the pain where my heart was bleeding - because the threads could not be severed.

I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of man's urge to open his heart

All art, literature, and music must be born in your heart's blood. Art is your heart's blood.

One can easily tell that the creator of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel was above all a sculptor

Disease, insanity, and death were the angels that attended my cradle, and since then have followed me throughout my life.

I felt as if there were invisible threads connecting us - I felt the invisible strands of her hair still winding around me - and thus as she disappeared completely beyond the sea - I still felt it, felt the pain where my heart was bleeding - because the threads could not be severed.

Painting picture by picture, I followed the impressions my eye took in at heightened moments. I painted only memories, adding nothing, no details that I did not see. Hence the simplicity of the paintings, their emptiness.