A biography for Paul Mellonhasn’t been written yet.
“In a way, my father was lucky. He had a hunch that his vision of the National Gallery would interest other collectors and persuade them to come in with him, and that hunch proved to be right.”
“Within 18 months of my parents' marriage in 1900, my mother fell in love with an Englishman who would have described himself as a gentleman but who was, in fact, nothing more than a devious adventurer.”
“It was my father's hope, and it is ours, that the National Gallery would become not a static but a living institution, growing in usefulness and importance to artists, scholars and the general public.”
“Just as there is no substitute for original works of art, there is no substitute for the world of direct sensual experience.”
“There is no intellectual or emotional substitute for the authentic, the original, the unique masterpiece.”
“When you give away large sums of money, you can cause as much damage as you may do good.”
“Collecting is the sort of thing that creeps up on you.”
“College isn't the only answer. Reading is a college that you can and should attend all your life.”
“Preliminary drawings or sketches in oil or pastel often have an immediacy and emotional appeal far greater than the final canvas.”