Creation is the artist's true function; where there is no creation there is no art.

In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.

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

The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

One must, of course, have one's entire experience behind one and not have lost the freshness of instinct.

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.