The Air You Breathe In A Picture

The Museums Are Here To Teach The History Of Art And Something More As Well, For, If They Stimulate In The Weak A Desire To Imitate, They Furnish The Strong With The Means Of Their Emancipation.

Taste! It Doesn't Exist. An Artist Makes Beautiful Things Without Being Aware Of It.

Art' Is The Same Word As 'artifice,' That Is To Say, Something Deceitful. It Must Succeed In Giving The Impression Of Nature By False Means.

It Seems To Me That Today, If The Artist Wishes To Be Serious - To Cut Out A Little Original Niche For Himself, Or At Least Preserve His Own Innocence Of Personality - He Must Once More Sink Himself In Solitude. There Is Too Much Talk And Gossip; Pictures Are Apparently Made, Like Stock-market Prices, By Competition Of People Eager For Profit; In Order To Do Anything At All We Need (so To Speak) The Wit And Ideas Of Our Neighbors As Much As The Businessmen Need The Funds Of Others To Win On The Market. All This Traffic Sharpens Our Intelligence And Falsifies Our Judgment.

One Must Have A High Opinion Of A Work Of Art - Not The Work One Is Creating At The Moment, But Of That Which One Desires To Achieve One Day. Without This It Is Not Worthwhile Working.