My mother's one idea was to sacrifice her life to her children and she had done nothing else since the death of my father. We wished that she had married again instead.

I was much more interested in literature than I was in art. I just got into art by mistake.

Peace was the one thing that Max (Ernst) needed in order to paint, and love was the one thing I needed in order to live. As neither of us gave the other what he most desired, our union was doomed to failure.

[On amassing art for her collection:] My motto was 'Buy a picture a day' and I lived up to it.

I personally always hated Pop art.

Having plenty of time and all the museum's funds at my disposal, I put myself on a regime to buy one picture a day.

I thought it would be nice to marry Virgil [Thomson] to have a musical background, but I never got far with the project.