The Only Secret I Can Claim To

When I Look At A Body It Gives Me Choice Of What To Put In A Painting, What Will Suit Me And What Won't. There Is A Distinction Between Fact And Truth. Truth Has An Element Of Revelation About It. If Something Is True, It Does More Than Strike One As Merely Being So.

I Could Never Put Anything Into A Picture That Wasn't Actually There In Front Of Me. That Would Be A Pointless Lie, A Mere Bit Of Artfulness.

It Is Through Observation And Perception Of Atmosphere That He [the Artist] Can Register The Feeling That He Wishes His Painting To Give Out.

What Do I Ask Of A Painting? I Ask It To Astonish, Disturb, Seduce, Convince.

I Remember Francis Bacon Would Say That He Felt He Was Giving Art What He Thought It Previously Lacked. With Me, It's What Yeats Called The Fascination With What's Difficult. I'm Only Trying To Do What I Can't Do.