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.
Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.
I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota, without . . . having painted as much as you can cover with your hand, to please somebody or in order to sell the picture more easily.
Fine art is knowledge made visible.
Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.