“It is true – is it not – that even Ingres [French classical painter, famous for his line] had to revise – yes, the surface of the painting is smooth, finished and incorruptible as a diamond, but under the accomplished surface are pentimenti – see there at the shoulder, how the line of the black dress was lowered qua fraction and the hand was extended to give greater elegance... Are these not signs of the patient revision that even a genius has to make.”

— Arshile Gorky

Source: 1942 - 1948, Arshile Gorky, – Goats on the roof' (2009), p. 358: in: 'A visit to the Metropolitan Museum with Gorky', Ethel Schwabacher, 1947

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Arshile Gorky 32

Armenian-American painter 1904–1948

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