Coming out of the Louvre for the first time in 1971, dizzy with new love, I stood on Pont Neuf and made a pledge to myself that the art of this newly discovered world in the Old World would be my life companion.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I remember being a student, and I would go every Friday to the Louvre and stay for ages, just walking around.
The Louvre for me is a wonderful experience. Because it continues; it didn't get cut off. It was actually a continuous involvement all the way, and a lot of people have come and gone, come and gone; but I'm still here.
An enthusiastic desire of visiting the Old World haunted me from early childhood. I cherished a presentiment, amounting almost to belief, that I should one day behold the scenes, among which my fancy had so long wandered.
My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever changing view.
We all become great explorers during our first few days in a new city, or a new love affair.
Keep good company - that is, go to the Louvre.
The first painting that I realised I liked was 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hieronymus Bosch, when I was six years old, at the Prado in Madrid. I still find myself returning there every time I'm in the city.
The Louvre is a morgue; you go there to identify your friends.
I'd been going to the Louvre since 1951. I thought I knew Paris and the French, but I didn't really. You know how easy it is to make friends when you are traveling. People are curious about you, you are curious about them. But you never really make friends that way. After the Louvre, I discovered that I have friends now because I have enemies.
I've been fifty thousand times to the Louvre. I have copied everything in drawing, trying to understand.