...for whether we want to or not, we belong to our time and we share in its opinions, its feelings, even its delusions.

The arts have a development which comes not only from the individual but also from a whole acquired force, the civilization which precedes us. One cannot do just anything. A talented artist cannot do whatever he pleases. If he only used his gifts, he would not exist. We are not the masters of what we produce. It is imposed on us.

When I eat a tomato I look at it the way anyone else would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently.

The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning... The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express.

...The more a picture has to give, the greater it is.

It is not enough to place colors, however beautiful, one beside the other; colors must also react on one another. Otherwise, you have cacophony.

For my part I have never avoided the influence of others. I would have considered it cowardice and a lack of sincerity toward myself.