When I paint a woman in an armchair, the armchair is there to show illness and death-or as a protection.

The first half of life is learning to be an adult-the second half is learning to be a child.

Age only matters when one is aging. Now that I have arrived at a great age, I might as well be twenty.

We might adapt for the artist the joke about there being nothing more dangerous than instruments of war in the hands of generals. In the same way, there is nothing more dangerous than justice in the hands of judges, and a paint brush in the hands of a painter! Just think of the danger to society! But today we haven't the heart to expel the painters and poets because we no longer admit to ourselves that there is any danger in keeping them in our midst.

There are chemists who spend their whole lives trying to find out what's in a lump of sugar. I want to know one thing. What is color?

The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.

You cannot go against nature. She is stronger than the strongest of men. We can permit ourselves some liberties, but in details only.