Do console your poor friend, who is so troubled to see his paintings so miserable, so sad, next to the radiant nature he has before his eyes!

Listen to the advice of others, but follow only what you understand and can unite in your own feeling. Be firm, be meek, but follow your own convictions. It is better to be nothing than an echo of other painters.

I work on all parts of my painting at once, improving it very gently until I find that the effect is complete.

Heavens, how charming it is! There is now in the sky only the soft vaporous color of pale citron – the last reflection of the sun which plunges into the dark blue of the night, going from green tones to a pale turquoise of an unheard-of fineness and a fluid delicacy quite indescribable.

Don’t imitate, don’t follow the others, or else you will lag behind them.

The most important things in a painting are Form and Value. Color comes last – like a friend you welcome.

Be guided by feeling alone. We are only simple mortals, subject to error…

The first things to study are form and values. For me, these are the things that are the basics of what is serious in art.

I am never in a hurry to reach details. First and above all I am interested in the large masses and the general character of a picture; when these are well established, then I try for subtleties of form and color. I rework the painting constantly and freely, and without any systematic method.

It seems to me very important to begin by an indication of the darkest values (assuming that the canvas is white), and to continue in order to the lightest value. From the darkest to the lightest I would establish twenty shades…

Never lose the first impression which has moved you.