I am essentially a painter of the kind of still-life composition that communicates a sense of tranquility and privacy, moods which I have always valu… - Giorgio Morandi

When most Italian artists of my own generation were afraid to be too 'modern,' too 'international' in their style, not 'national' or 'imperial' enough, I was still left in peace, perhaps because I demanded so little recognition. My privacy was thus my protection and, in the eyes of the Grand Inquisitors of Italian art, I remained a provincial professor of etching, at the Fine Art Academy in Bologna.

He [ Jackson Pollock ] just jumps in before he knows how to swim. [when Morandi sees paintings of Pollock for the first time]

..before I die I should like to bring two paintings to completion. What matters is to touch the limit, the essence of things.