The sculptor represents the transition from one pose to another he indicates how insensibly the first glides into the second. In his work we still see a part of what was and we discover a part of what is to be.
Man’s naked form belongs to no particular moment in history; it is eternal, and can be looked upon with joy by the people of all ages.
To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.
The modes of expression of men of genius differ as much as their souls, and it is impossible to say that in some among them, drawing and color are better or worse than in others.
The realities of nature surpass our most ambitious dreams.
There is nothing ugly in art except that which is without character, that is to say, that which offers no outer or inner truth.
Recently I have taken to isolating limbs, the torso. Why am I blamed for it? Why is the head allowed and not portions of the body? Every part of the human figure is expressive.
Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump.
I have unbounded admiration for the nude. I worship it like a god.
The body always expresses the spirit whose envelope it is. And for him who can see, the nude offers the richest meaning.
True artists are almost the only men who do their work for pleasure.
I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.
Nobody does good to men with impunity.
The only principle in art is to copy what you see. Dealers in aesthetics to the contrary, every other method is fatal.
He who is discouraged after a failure is not a real artist.
If the artist succeeds in producing the impression of a movement which takes several moments for accomplishment, his work is certainly much less conventional than the scientific image, where time is abruptly suspended.
Black is the queen of colours.
The artist has only to trust his eyes.
I am like a moon that shines on an immense, unknown sea where ships never pass.
People say I think too much about women, yet, after all what is there more important to think about?