My Work Is Purely Autobiographical... It Is

I Paint People, Not Because Of What They Are Like, Not Exactly In Spite Of What They Are Like, But How They Happen To Be.

The Aura Given Out By A Person Or Object Is As Much A Part Of Them As Their Flesh. The Effect That They Make In Space Is As Bound Up With Them As Might Be Their Colour Or Smell ... Therefore The Painter Must Be As Concerned With The Air Surrounding His Subject As With The Subject Itself. It Is Through Observation And Perception Of Atmosphere That He Can Register The Feeling That He Wishes His Painting To Give Out.

The Character Of The Artist Doesn't Enter Into The Nature Of The Art. Eliot Said That Art Is The Escape From Personality, Which I Think Is Right. We Know That Velázquez Embezzled Money From The Spanish Court And Wanted Power And So On, But You Can't See This In His Art.

I Would Wish My Portraits To Be Of The People, Not Like Them. Not Having A Look Of The Sitter, Being Them.

Full, Saturated Colours Have An Emotional Significance I Want To Avoid.