Fine art is knowledge made visible.
France is the only nation in which astoundingly small numbers of civilized patrons reside.
The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.
I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.
I am fifty years old and I have always lived in freedom; let me end my life free; when I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any regime except the regime of liberty.'
The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.