They speak of naturalism in opposition to modern painting. I would
like to know if anyone has ever sen a natural work of art. Nature and
art, being two different things, cannot be the same thing. Through
art we express our conception of what nature is not.
-- Pablo Picasso (1923). in Artists on Art ed. by
Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves. p.417
The fact that for a long time cubism has not been understood and
that even today there are people who cannot see anything in it,
means nothing. I do not read English, an English book is a blank
book to me. This does not mean that the English language does not
exist, and why should I blame anybody else but myself if I cannot
understand what I know nothing about?
-- Pablo Picasso (1923). in Artists on Art ed. by
Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves. p.417