Drawing is not what you see but what you must make others see. - Edgar Degas

A man is an artist only at certain moments, by an effort of will. Objects have the same appearance for everybody.

It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious — to cut out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own innocence of personality — he must once more sink himself in solitude. There is too much talk and gossip; pictures are apparently made, like stock-market prices, by competition of people eager for profit; in order to do anything at all we need (so to speak) the wit and ideas of our neighbors as much as the businessmen need the funds of others to win on the market. All this traffic sharpens our intelligence and falsifies our judgment.

I believe Corot painted a tree better that any of us, but still I find him superior in his figures.