“I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have the light joyousness of springtime, which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.... „

“Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence. „

“I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.. „

“Exactitude is not truth. „

“Cutting into color reminds me of the sculptor's direct carving. „

“Seek the strongest color effect possible.. the content is of no importance. „

“In modern art, it is undoubtedly to Cezanne that I owe the most. „

“The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his nature; the shock, with the original reaction. „

“Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance. „

“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter. „

“I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish. „

“An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language... „

“Creativity takes courage. „

“A young painter who cannot liberate himself from the influence of past generations is digging his own grave. „

“ There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. „

“ You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover. „

“ An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc. „

“It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else. „

“In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands what one is doing or what one knows, and when there remains an energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled and compressed. „

“I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer. „

“I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it. „

“We must see all life as if we were children. „