I Have Always Believed And Still Believe

When I Paint I Feel That All The Artists Of The Past Are Behind Me.

To Me There Is No Past Or Future In My Art. If A Work Of Art Cannot Live Always In The Present It Must Not Be Considered At All. The Art Of The Greeks, Of The Egyptians, Of The Great Painters Who Lived In Other Times, Is Not An Art Of The Past; Perhaps It Is More Alive Today Than It Ever Was.

I Understand My Own Pictures Best Six Months After I Have Done Them.

I Don't Think I'm Wrong When I Say That The Most Beautiful Objects Of The "stone Age" Were Made Of Skin, Fabric, And Especially Wood. The "stone Age" Ought To Be Called The "wood Age." How Many African Statues Are Made Of Stone, Bone, Or Ivory? Maybe One In A Thousand! And Prehistoric Man Had No More Ivory At His Disposal Than African Tribes. Maybe Even Less. He Must Have Had Thousands Of Wooden Fetishes, All Gone Now.

I Go For A Walk In The Forest Of Fontainebleau. I Get 'green' Indigestion. I Must Get Rid Of This Sensation Into A Picture. Green Rules It. A Painter Paints To Unload Himself Of Feelings And Visions.