As I say, everybody has to like something, some

people like to eat, some people like to drink,

some people like to make money, some like to

spend money, some like the theatre, some even

like sculpture, some like gardening, some like

dogs, some like cats, some people like to look at

things, some people like to look at everything.

Anyway someone is almost sure to really like

something outside of their real occupation. I

have not mentioned games indoor and out, and

birds and crime and politics and photography,

but anybody can go on, and I, personally, I like

all these things well enough but they do not

hold my attention long enough. The only thing,

funnily enough, that I never get tired of doing is

looking at pictures. There is no reason for it,

but for some reason anything reproduced by

paint, I may even say certainly, by oil paints on

a flat surface holds my attention.

The vital principle of all art: to bring us closer

to things by placing us at a distance from

them …

(Diesem Lebensprinzip aller Kunst: uns den Dingen dadurch näher zu bringen, dass sie uns in eine Distanz von ihnen stellt …)