Quote Category

Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

As a means of contrast with the sublime, the grotesque is, in our view, the richest source that nature can offer.

And I think that after nearly 85 years upon this planet that I have a right after working so hard at showing the desolation and the poverty, to show something beautiful for somebody as well.

Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?

Your audience gives you everything you need. They tell you. There is no director who can direct you like an audience.

Taste is the common sense of genius.

Quality is decided by the depth at which the work incorporates the alternatives within itself, and so masters them.

Yet, it is true, poetry is delicious; the best prose is that which is most full of poetry.

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.