An artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.

A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.

Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship.

The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is completely occupied by the images of as many objects as are in front of it.

I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist.

If the painter wishes to see beauties that charm him, it lies in his power to create them, and if he wishes to see monstrosities that are frightful, ridiculous, or truly pitiable, he is lord and God thereof.