As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does

I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.

The model should only serve the very private function for the painter of providing the starting point for his excitement

The process of creation becomes necessary to the painter perhaps more than is the picture. The process in fact is habit-forming

The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art

When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't

The painter makes real to others his innermost feelings about all that he cares for. A secret becomes known to everyone who views the picture through the intensity with which it is felt.