Drawing is not the same as form, it is a way of seeing form.

I assure you no art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament -- temperament is the word -- I know nothing.

These women of mine are decent, simple human beings who have no other concern than that of their physical condition... it is as though one were watching through a keyhole.

The fascinating thing, is not to show the source of light, but the effect of light.

Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression. A species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.

A picture is a thing which requires as much knavery, as much malice, and as much vice as the perpetration of a crime. Make it untrue and add an accent of truth.

And even this heart of mine has something artificial. The dancers have sewn it into a bag of pink satin, pink satin slightly faded, like their dancing shoes.

Once they witnessed one of his painting sold at auction for $100,000. And asked how you do it, he said, 'I feel as a horse must feel when the beautiful cup is given to the jockey.'

Realism is more important than the sentiment of the picture.

A picture is an artificial work, outside nature. It calls for as much cunning as the commission of a crime.

Do portraits of people in familiar and typical attitudes, above all give to their face the same choice of expression that one gives to their body.

If I could have had my own way, I would have confined myself to black and white.

The frame is the reward of the artist.

There is no such thing as Intelligence; one has intelligence of this or that. One must have intelligence only for what one is doing.

I want to be famous but unknown!

I feel as a horse must feel when the beautiful cup is given to the jockey.

No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.

If I were in the government I would have a brigade of policemen assigned to keeping an eye on people who paint landscapes outdoors. Oh, I wouldn't want anyone killed. I'd be satisfied with just a little buckshot to begin with.

Drawing is your understanding of form.

Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.