Instinct Must Be Thwarted Just As One

My Models, My Human Figures, Are Never Like Extras In An Interior. They Are The Main Theme Of My Work. I Depend Absolutely On My Model.

I've Been Forty Years Discovering That The Queen Of All Colors Is Black.

The Arts Have A Development Which Comes Not Only From The Individual But Also From A Whole Acquired Force, The Civilization Which Precedes Us. One Cannot Do Just Anything. A Talented Artist Cannot Do Whatever He Pleases. If He Only Used His Gifts, He Would Not Exist. We Are Not The Masters Of What We Produce. It Is Imposed On Us.

I Was Very Embarrassed When My Canvases Began To Fetch High Prices. I Saw Myself Condemned To A Future Of Nothing But Masterpieces.

I Cannot Copy Nature In A Servile Way; I Am Forced To Interpret Nature And Submit It To The Spirit Of The Picture. From The Relationship I Have Found In All The Tones There Must Result A Living Harmony Of Colors, A Harmony Analogous To That Of A Musical Composition.