Claude Monet

The motif is secondary; what I want to capture is what there is between the motif and myself.

It's a trade I learned as a youth… when I was unhappy… Perhaps flowers are the reason why I am an artist.

I am more and more fascinated by the reflections of colors in water. It is quite beyond me.

What I like most of all in London is the fog.

Colors pursue me like a constant worry. They even worry me in my sleep.

I despise the opinion of the press and the so-called critics.

I am very depressed and deeply disgusted with painting. It is really a continual torture.

No, I'm not a great painter. Neither am I a great poet.

Never, even as a child, would I bend to a rule.

Most people think I paint fast. I paint very slowly.

Everything I have earned has gone into these gardens.

No one but myself knows the anxiety I go through and the trouble I give myself to finish paintings which do not satisfy me and seem to please so very few others.

My life has been nothing but a failure, and all that's left for me to do is to destroy my paintings before I disappear.

England did not care for our paintings.

I never had one [a studio] and personally I don't understand why would want to shut themselves up in some room. Maybe for drawing, sure, but not for painting.

You do not mention the red poppies, which are the important ones as I already have irises, chrysanthemums, peonies and morning glories.

I was flattered by your two letters, as I have the deepest admiration for Japanese art and a great liking for the Japanese people […]. It is with the greatest pleasure that I received your pretty prints.

How I dream of Giverny in this lovely weather and envy you for being there, you have no idea. But I am a prisoner and must see it through, despite being completely drained. It's exhausting and I'm working with feverish ardour.

For a month I have been unable to paint because I lack the colours. That's not important. Right now it's my wife's life in jeopardy that terrifies me. It is unbearable to see her suffer.

My wife just had another baby and I am unable to pay for medical care that mother and child must have.