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

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 think words come between the spectator and the picture.

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.

Collecting has been my great extravagance. It's a way of being. I collect for the same reason that I eat too much-I'm one of nature's shoppers.

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 never think that anything I do is courageous.