The importance of an artist is to be measured by the quantity of new signs which he has introduced to the language of art.

I cannot copy nature in a servile way; I am forced to interpret nature and submit it to the spirit of the picture. From the relationship I have found in all the tones there must result a living harmony of colors, a harmony analogous to that of a musical composition.

Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must not feel under any constraint.

A rapid rendering of a landscape represents only one moment of its existence. I prefer, by insisting upon its essential character, to risk losing charm in order to gain greater stability.

To arrive is to be in prison.

The portrait is one of the most curious art forms. It demands special qualities in the artist, and an almost total kinship with the model.