Fine Art Is Knowledge Made Visible.

The State Is Not Competent In Artistic Matters... When The State Leaves Us Free, It Will Have Carried Out Its Duty.

Without Trying To Clear Up The Degree Of Correctness Of A Qualification Which No One, One Must Hope, Will Be Asked To Understand Exactly, I Will Limit Myself To A Few Words Of Explanation To Cut Short Any Misunderstandings.

France Is The Only Nation In Which Astoundingly Small Numbers Of Civilized Patrons Reside.

Painting Is The Representation Of Visible Forms. The Essence Of Realism Is Its Negation Of The Ideal.

On The Left Is The Realist Tradition Of The 19th Century, With Its Impulse To Social Description, Radical Criticism And Meditation On Things As They Are... Culminating In Courbet At His Mightiest (the Studio, The Funeral At Ornans And A Portrait Of A Trout That Has More Death In It Than Rubens Could Get In A Whole Crucifixion).