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

I never think that anything I do is courageous.

I am happy for people to talk about my pictures, but I wish devoutly that I was not expected to talk about them myself.

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

I don't look at the work of my contemporaries very much; I tend to look at pictures by dead artists. It's much easier to get near their paintings.

I think words come between the spectator and the picture.

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