Since the model he so faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture... it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model.
Lucian FreudRead
The only secret I can claim to have is concentration, and that's something that can't be taught.
Interpretation
Concentration is a personal skill that cannot be easily taught or learned from others.
This quote by Lucian Freud emphasizes the importance of concentration as a vital component of success in any endeavor. It suggests that while techniques and methods can be shared, the inner ability to focus deeply on a task is an individual trait that one must cultivate within themselves, highlighting the unique nature of personal mastery and dedication.
In practice
In a motivational speech about achieving goals through self-discipline.
Since the model he so faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture... it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model.
When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't. There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so.
It is the only point of getting up every morning: to paint, to make something good, to make something even better than before, not to give up, to compete, to be ambitious.
The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art
I paint people, not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.
I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.
Those who understand only what can be explained understand very little.
As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.
If your self-esteem really does depend on how you look you're always going to be insecure. There's no way you can get around it because you are going to age. Even if you get that perfect body you're going to get older and older and older. You can't avid it. So you have to somehow, at some point, take control and sift the focus and decide who you are, what you can contribute to the world, what you do and say, is so much more important than how you look.
God finds us in the holes we dig for ourselves. We see failures; He sees foundations.
Nothing is harder than to accept oneself.
Dogmatism is the greatest of mental obstacles to human happiness.
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