Howard Hodgkin

“I'm vulnerable to criticism. Any artist is, because you work alone in your studio and, until recently, critics were the only way you'd get any feedback.”

“I don't look at the work of my contemporaries very much; I tend to look at pictures by dead artists. It's much easier to get near their paintings.”

“I'm very envious of the few artists who are any good and still do portraits.”

“A collection makes its own demands. Many artists have been collectors. I think of it rather as an illness. I felt it was using up too much energy.”

“I am isolated as an artist, not as a person.”

“I look at my pictures, and I think, 'Well, how did I do that?'”