It is with the reading of books the same as with looking at pictures; one must, without doubt, without hesitations, with assurance, admire what is beautiful.
But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.
In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically.
It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.
A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.
It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.
But for one’s health as you say, it is very necessary to work in the garden and see the flowers growing.
I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.
If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.
There is no blue without yellow and without orange.
I can’t change the fact that my paintings don’t sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.
Success is sometimes the outcome of a whole string of failures.
An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.
I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.
As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.
I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter’s soul.
It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.