“A certain amount of contempt for the material employed to express an idea is indispensable to the purest realization of this idea.”

I would photograph an idea rather than an object, a dream rather than an idea.

I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.

I am an economic person; I judge the amount of work involved with the amount of worth attained.

One of the satisfactions of a genius is his will-power and obstinacy.

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.

I paint what cannot be photographed, something from the imagination. I photograph the things I don’t want to paint, things that are already in existence.

If I’d had the nerve, I’d have become a thief or a gangster, but since I didn’t, I became a photographer.

The tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.

Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

I am not going to be dictated to by the size of the camera. I use everything from an 8 x 10 to a 35-mm. But I don’t use these modern cameras which break down all the time !

l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.

To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.

An original is a creation motivated by desire.

I paint when I cannot photograph.

I have never painted a recent picture.