The Task Of The Artist

If All The Qualities Which A Painter Took From The Model For His Picture Were Really Taken, No Person Could Be Painted Twice.

When I Look At A Body It Gives Me Choice Of What To Put In A Painting, What Will Suit Me And What Won't. There Is A Distinction Between Fact And Truth. Truth Has An Element Of Revelation About It. If Something Is True, It Does More Than Strike One As Merely Being So.

I Don't Want Any Colour To Be Noticeable... I Don't Want It To Operate In The Modernist Sense As Colour, Something Independent... Full, Saturated Colours Have An Emotional Significance I Want To Avoid.

A Moment Of Complete Happiness Never Occurs In The Creation Of A Work Of Art. The Promise Of It Is Felt In The Act Of Creation But Disappears Towards The Completion Of The Work. For It Is Then The Painter Realises That It Is Only A Picture He Is Painting. Until Then He Had Almost Dared To Hope The Picture Might Spring To Life.

And, Since The Model He Faithfully Copies Is Not Going To Be Hung Up Next To The Picture, Since The Picture Is Going To Be There On Its Own, It Is Of No Interest Whether It Is An Accurate Copy Of The Model.