The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it.

France is the only nation in which astoundingly small numbers of civilized patrons reside.

Fine art is knowledge made visible.

I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I'll paint one.

The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.

When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.