I am now working on a still life with a bottle and other objects spread out on a plane and it seems to be turning out well. - Giorgio Morandi

Quote in Morandi's letter of 14 Oct. 1919 to the Futurist painter Carlo Carrà; as cited in Morandi 1894 – 1964, ed: M. C. Bandera & R. Miracco, Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, 2008; p. 92

..my favorite artist, when I first began to paint, was actually Cézanne. Later, between 1920 – 1930, I developed a great interest in Chardin [famous for his still-life], w:Vermeer and Corot, too.. ..that's why you have been able to detect in my works of between 1912 – 1916 some recognizable influences of the early Paris cubists and above all, of Cézanne.

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.