What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.
Creativity takes courage.
It is with color that you render light, though you must also feel this light, have it within yourself.
I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.
What I dream of is an art of balance.
Exactitude is not truth.
My curves are not crazy.
There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.
I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.
I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.
Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.
Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.
I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
Jazz is rhythm and meaning.
Work cures everything.
You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete.
A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn't so much the worse for you.
It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color – not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.
In love, the one who runs away is the winner.
One must, of course, have one's entire experience behind one and not have lost the freshness of instinct.
An artist is an explorer.
If I close my eyes, I see things better than with my eyes open.
I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.
I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.
Hatred is a parasite that devours all. One doesn't build upon hatred, but upon love.
A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.
Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.
An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.
Art is an escape from reality.
He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.
I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.
Nothing can be accomplished without love.
It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.
Above all, an artist must never be too easily satisfied with what he has done.
In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.
To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.
An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success.
An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
I'm growing old, I delight in the past.
Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.
With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.
Cutting into color reminds me of the sculptor's direct carving.
The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer.
I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
