There are some things in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential.

Why shouldn’t art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.

"The work of art must seize upon you...carry you away."

What is to be done about these literary people, who will never understand that painting is a craft and that the material side comes first? The ideas come afterwards, when the picture is finished.

I look at a nude. There are myriads of tiny tints. I must find the ones that will make the flesh on my canvas live and quiver.

I've never let one day go by without painting, or at least without drawing.

In a few generations you can breed a racehorse. The recipe for making a man like Delacroix is less well known.