I am interested in study, reflection, philosophy – but always as a dilettante. I also consider myself a dilettante as a painter.

I often told the fanatics of realism that there is no such thing as realism in art: it only exists in the mind of the observer. Art is a symbol, a thing conjuring up reality in our mental image. That is why I don’t see any contradiction between abstract and figurative art either.

Which country is real, mine or the teacher’s? My wish is that we might progressively lose our confidence in what we think we believe and the things we consider stable and secure, in order to remind ourselves of the infinite number of things still waiting to be discovered.

To achieve contact with reality is not to transport oneself elsewhere; it is not transcendence but thorough immersion in one’s surroundings – a reality which is neither purely physical nor metaphysical, but both at once.

In our world, in which religious images are losing their meaning, in which our customs are getting more and more secular, we are losing our sense of the eternal. I think it’s a loss that has done a great deal of damage to modern art. Painting is a return to origins.

My illusion is to have something to transmit. If I can’t change the world, at least I want to change the way people look at it.

Art should startle the viewer into thinking about the meaning of life.

If one draws things in a manner which provides only the barest clue to their meaning, the viewer is forced to fill in the gaps by using his own imagination. He is compelled to participate in the creative act, which I consider very important.

When I talk of reality, I am always thinking of essentials. Profundity is not located in some remote, inaccessible region. It is rooted in everyday life.

The highest wisdom adopts the humblest of bodies.