The desire to be primitive was very much a function of fin-de-siècle imperialism; it appealed to strong egos and domineering minds.

In art there is no progress, only fluctuations of intensity.

Transportation made sublimation literal. It conveyed evil to another world.

The hallmark of the minor artist is to be obsessed with style as an end in itself.

Now that rates are moving up, we're seeing more aggressive offerings from banks.

A Gustave Courbet portrait of a trout has more death in it than Rubens could get in a whole Crucifixion.

Indeed, the idea that doubt can be heroic, if it is locked into a structure as grand as that of the paintings of Cezanne's old age, is one of the keys to our century. A touchstone of modernity itself.