I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.

The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.

I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them.

Beauty lies in nature and reveals, once the artist has perceived it, its own expressive power.

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

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.

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