For the cynic, art is defined through money. That, of course, is a very sad statement. But an artist is someone who does creative things.

I only painted when I felt like it and needed money. But it never really became a professional thing, even though the dealers would have liked that.

Every philharmonic orchestra merely interprets the composer. My goal was to create new music by that composer. In doing so, I wanted to find the painter's creative center and become familiar with it, so that I could see through his eyes how his paintings came about and, of course, see the new picture I was painting through his eyes - before I even painted it.

I once went to a demonstration in Aachen against fare increases on public transport. A police officer pulled out a bunch of my hair, and there were a lot of violent beatings. That's when I thought to myself: You'd better leave it alone.

One is a criminal to some people and an artist to others. I can understand that. In a legal sense, I am a convicted criminal.

The trick is to paint a picture that doesn't exist, and yet that fits perfectly into an artist's body of work.

You can't paint pictures of love. You can only imagine them. So I suppose I don't need a painting by another artist. I have enough of my own.