A painting is finished when the subject comes back, when what has caused the painting to be made comes back as an object.

I'm vulnerable to criticism. Any artist is, because you work alone in your studio and, until recently, critics were the only way you'd get any feedback.

Passion lies between one mark and the next, and also within all of them.

Eventually, a collection ceases to be a personal indulgence and assumes its own identity. In fact, it becomes a thing in its own right - rather like Frankenstein's monster.

The picture surface recedes just as much in the 20th century as it did in the 15th. The techniques of making pictures have hardly changed.

My language is what I use, and if I lost that, I wouldnt be able to say anything.

I'm very envious of the few artists who are any good and still do portraits.