Here, on the river's verge, I could be busy for months without changing my place, simply leaning a little more to right or left.

The Louvre is the book in which we learn to read. We must not, however, be satisfied with retaining the beautiful formulas of our illustrious predecessors. Let us go forth to study beautiful nature, let us try to free our mids from them, let us strive to express ourselves according to our personal temperaments. Time and reflection, moreover, little by little modify our vision, and at last comprehension comes to us.

Here, on the river's verge, I could be busy for months without changing my place, simply leaning a little more to right or left.

Don't be an art critic. Paint. There lies salvation.

All my life I have worked to be able to earn my living, but I thought that one could do good painting without attracting attention to one's private life. Certainly, an artist wishes to raise himself intellectually as much as possible, but the man must remain obscure. The pleasure must be found in the work.

I ask you to pray for me, for once age has overtaken us, we find consolation only in religion.

Is it the factitious and the conventional that most surely succeed on earth and in the course of life?