An artist is forced by others to paint out of his own free will.
Willem de Kooning

Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure.
Willem de Kooning

I don't paint to live, I live to paint.
Willem de Kooning

I make pictures and someone comes in and calls it art.
Willem de Kooning

My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.
Willem de Kooning

Style is a fraud. I always felt the Greeks were hiding behind their columns.
Willem de Kooning

The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves.
Willem de Kooning

The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.
Willem de Kooning

Whatever an artist's personal feelings are, as soon as an artist fills a certain area on the canvas or circumscribes it, he becomes historical. He acts from or upon other artists.
Willem de Kooning