The Expression Of Beauty Is In Direct

I Hope To Live All My Life For My Art, Without Abandoning My Principles One Iota, Without . . . Having Painted As Much As You Can Cover With Your Hand, To Please Somebody Or In Order To Sell The Picture More Easily.

I Am Not One Who Was Born In The Custody Of Wisdom; I Am One Who Is Fond Of Olden Times And Intense In Quest Of The Sacred Knowing Of The Ancients.

I Deny That Art Can Be Taught, Or, In Other Words, Maintain That Art Is Completely Individual, And That The Talent Of Each Artist Is But The Result Of His Own Inspiration And His Own Study Of Past Tradition.

Painting Is An Essentially Concrete Art And Can Only Consist Of The Representation Of Real And Existing Things. It Is A Completely Physical Language, The Words Of Which Consist Of All Visible Objects. An Object Which Is Abstract, Not Visible, Non-existent, Is Not Within The Realm Of Painting.

I Have Studied The Art Of The Masters And The Art Of The Moderns, Avoiding Any Preconceived System And Without Prejudice. I Have No More Wanted To Imitate The Former Than To Copy The Latter; Nor Have I Thought Of Achieving The Idle Aim Of Art For Art's Sake.