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.

Simple colours can affect the intimate feelings with all the more force because they are simple.

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.

From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.

Seeing is in itself a creative act which requires effort.

Color, even more than drawing, is a means of liberation.

There's nothing clinically wrong with me, only an emotional imbalance - I pass too quickly from the wildest enthusiasm to the blackest despair.