What drives men of genius is their obsession with the idea that what has already been done is not good enough. - Eugène Delacroix

Dans la peinture, il s'établit comme un pont mystérieux entre l'âme des personnages et celle du spectateur.

After leaving [the International Exposition in Paris, with a lot of new machines], I went to see Courbet's exhibition; he has reduced the admission to ten cents. I stay there alone for nearly an hour and discover that the picture [ 'L'atélier' / the Painter's Studio - 1855] of his which they refused [for exposing on the official Salon in Paris ] is a masterpiece; I simply could not tear myself away from the sight of it.

Everything tell me that I need to live a more solitary life. The loveliest and most precious moments of my life are slipping away in amusements which, in truth, bring me nothing but boredom. (Sunday 4 April 1824).