I find the aesthetics of the 20th century hopelessly barren.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In the 19th century, you had bourgeois art without politics - an almost frozen idea of what beauty is.
The beautiful remains so in ugly surroundings.
All travellers who had preceded me into the Barren Grounds had relied on the abundant game, and in consequence suffered dreadful hardships; in some cases even starved to death.
The lifestyle that an artist can have, the freedom to wander in the landscape with no real pressure or deadlines, was a very attractive one.
I think the 19th century is an extraordinary period with a welling up of creativity and all kinds of experimentation and exploration going on at least until 1940.
Where is there beauty when you see deprivation and starvation?
And I think that after nearly 85 years upon this planet that I have a right after working so hard at showing the desolation and the poverty, to show something beautiful for somebody as well.
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.
I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.