Sometimes art seems to be something very sublime, and, as you say, something sacred.

In spite of everything, I shall rise again

Do not think too deeply about these things - gradually they will become clearer to you

Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.

To exaggerate the fairness of hair, I come even to orange tones, chromes and pale yellow ... I make a plain background of the richest, intensest blue that I can contrive, and by this simple combination of the bright head against the rich blue background, I get a mysterious effect, like a star in the depths of an azure sky.

I will not live without love.

In general, and most especially with artists, I pay as much attention to the man who does the work, as to the work itself.