"..I am not going to New York, I am leaving Paris. That's quite different. Long before the war I already had a distaste for the 'artistic life' I was involved in. – It's quite the opposite of what I'm looking for. – And so I tried, through the Library, to escape from artists somewhat. Then, with the war, my incompatibility with this milieu grew. I wanted to go away at all costs. Where to? My only option was New York where I knew you and where I hope to be able to escape leading the artistic life, if needs be through a job which will keep me very busy. I ask you to keep all this from my brothers because I know my leaving will be very painful for them. – the same goes for my father and sisters."

“the beginning of a cult devoted to the material on the canvas – the actual pigment..”

“Well, this man wanted to know why I stopped painting .. ..and he had said because of dealers and money and various reasons. Largely moralistic reasons.. ..But you know; it wasn’t like that. It’s like you break a leg; you don't mean to do it.”

“Another important point which you so very accurately sensed concerns the idea that the glass in actual fact is not meant to be looked at . It should be accompanied by a 'literary' text, as amorphous as possible, which never took shape. And the two elements, glass for the eyes, text for the ears and understanding, should complement each other and above all prevent one or the other from taking on an aesthetic-plastic or literary form. All in all, I am hugely indebted to you for having stripped bare my Bride stripped bare .”

“Painting is over and done with. Who could do anything better than this propeller? Look, could you do that?”

“I wanted to get away from the physical act of painting.. .For me the title , with inscription under: 'Fresh Widow Copyright Rose Sélavy, 1920', was very important.. .I was interested in ideas – not merely visual products. I wanted to put painting once again at the service of the mind.”

“..we must remember that this 'art coefficient' is a personal expression of art 'à l'état brute', that is, still in a raw state, which must be 'refined' as pure sugar from molasses, by the spectator; the digit of this coefficient has no bearing whatsoever on his verdict.. ..the role of the spectator is to determine the weight of the work on the aesthetic scale.”