Although even when I am being idle I have plenty of food for thought both early and late - thoughts both about and not about art.

I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women... There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night... Who ever wants to know something about me... ought to look carefully at my pictures.

If the weather is good I go into the nearby wood - there I am painting a small beech forest (in the sun) with a few conifers mixed in. This takes until 8 'o clock.

True relaxation, which would do me the world of good, does not exist for me.

There is always hope, as long as the canvases are empty.

Even when I have to write a simple letter I'm scared stiff as if faced with looming seasickness.

There is no self-portrait of me.