Albert Marquet

"I painted only [in pure colours] at Arcueil and at the Luxembourg Gardens."

"Henri Matisse and I were already working, before the 1900 Exhibition, as far back as 1898, in what was later to be called the Fauve style."

"Our first Salon des Independants, where I think we [Matisse and Marquet] were the only two painters to express ourselves in pure colors, was in 1901."

"It has happened that I have begun a canvas in a brilliant tonality, going on to finish it in a grey notation. (1898)"

"..the Matisse of long ago, so alert, such a battler, always giving as good as he got."

"Let's leave the studio and go watch what moves.."

"I was certain that they [ Poussin's paintings which Marquet copied frequently in the 1880's] would never bore me."

"Painting, even if we call it bad, if it is what helps to keep someone alive, how can we condemn it?"

"I do not know how to write or speak but only to paint and draw. Look at what I have done. Whether I have succeeded in explaining myself or not, in any case, if you do not understand my work, through your fault or mine, I can do no more."

"When I draw, 1 am as pre-occupied before a gas-jet as before a human being."

"It is in working [= painting] that you will find yourself.."

"Over the course of the war I came to understand a lot. The Communists are right.. .It's terrible that many people haven't understood anything and want to return everything back.."

"At work, he narrowed his eyes, closed one eye, then the other, taking advantage of the fact of not having the same vision in both, and then born up by a force which hardened his face and his glance, he appeared in all his singleness of purpose."

"..a sort of vengeful rage [Marcelle Marquette about Marquet's early street drawings."

"It was not his fault that what was exciting to him was of no interest to others, and if his timidity prevented him from explaining himself."

"The [Albert] Marquet of my youth [till c. 1904].. ..was a fighter, reliable, rock-steady, a sure companion."

"When I look at Hokusai, I think of Marquet - and vice versa... ...I don't mean imitation of Hokusai, I mean similarity with him."

"The colors, exceptionally violent, have cleared a well-known path.. ..Everything has gone according plan, as if expected. Everything except for the end result: a general effect that is, for Marquet, superb."

"Do you realize how sensitive Marquet is... ...do you see that he has suffered, and can you imagine how much. Have you noticed that he is easily bruised and that you will have to guess at his bruises because he will never say a word?"

"..a certain burst of light and colour, so awkward and so clumsy.. ..[he also added: A principle of form and of design is the most important element to be found in [Marquet's work]."