If the painter works directly from nature, he ultimately looks for nothing but momentary effects; he does not try to compose, and soon he gets monotonous.

Everybody has their reasons.

With a limited palette, the older painters could do just as well as today what they did was sounder.

To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.

There are quite enough unpleasant things in life without the need to manufacture more.

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

My concern has always been to paint nudes as if they were some splendid fruit.