Claude Monet

"I must have flowers, always, and always."

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration."

"I am following Nature without being able to grasp her."

"Monet begins where the first painter ends."

"I would like to paint the way a bird sings."

"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love."

"My only wish is to live as long as possible working at my art."

"The water in my paintings is not painted water, it is the effect of water."

"I'm quite happy to start from scratch with each canvas."

"Nature doesn't hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

"The main thing is to love your work from the depths of your heart."

"I am convinced that I am on the threshold of great things."

"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."

"Gardening is painting and sculpture at the same time."

"I have once more taken up things that are impossible to do: water with grasses weaving in it."

"Life is the movie you see through your own eyes."

"I'm no longer sure of anything. If I am Monet or not."

"You can muse on that, while I am getting on."

"I work with my eyes at all times and imagine only at evening."

"A landscape doesn't exist in its own right, since its appearance is constantly changing."

"More and more I realize that the work must be done independent of tradition."

"I never knew whether to admire or pity myself for this terrible passion."

"The subject is not important, only how you paint it."

"One day, the Lord will close my eyes, and it will be finished."

"The artist must sense which details to omit."

"I have become a bit of a recluse, but I am happy."

"I want to paint the air in which the bridge is."

"I promise you the lily ponds will be beautiful again."

"I feel obliged to show nothing but unfinished things."