"Abstract art is only painting. And what's so dramatic about that? There is no abstract art. One must always begin with something. Afterwards one can remove all semblance of reality; there is no longer any danger as the idea of the object has left an indelible imprint."

Source: Conversation avec Picasso. Interview with Christian Zervos, Cahiers d'Art, Volume X, No. 7-10 (pp. 173-178), 1935; later quoted in Richard Friedenthal Letters of the Great Artists From Blake to Pollock translated by Daphne Woodward (pp. 256-257), 1963.