Balthus

One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil.

Painting is the passage from the chaos of the emotions to the order of the possible.

 

The best way to begin is to say: Balthus is a painter of whom nothing is known. And now let us have a look at his paintings.

 

I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always a slight touch of mystery in my paintings.

 

I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art.

 

Painting what I experience, translating what I feel, is like a great liberation. But it is also work, self-examination, consciousness, criticism, struggle.

 

Painting is a language which cannot be replaced by another language. I don't know what to say about what I paint, really.

 

Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.

 

Very early on, I understood that I secretly and mysteriously belonged to the world of cats.

 

  — Balthus