Excerpts From Balthus' Memoirs

Extracts From The Memoirs Of Balthus (Ed. 2001) « The Painter Is Nothing In The Adventure Of Painting, He Is Only A Hand, A Tool Or A Bridge Which Transmits, Leads, Does Not Always Know Where He Himself Is Going, But Acts As A Transmitter Of The Dream, Of What Is Still Unknown, Illegible And Secret. To Paint Is Not To Represent But To Penetrate. Get To The Heart Of The Secret. Make Sure To Reflect The Inner Image, So That The Painter Is Also A Mirror. It Reflects The Spirit, The Line Of Inner Light. It Is A Very Difficult Thing, An Alchemy Which Requires A Lot Of Concentration, Resistance To The Outside World. A Portrait, For Example, Is A Fragment Of A Soul. To Grasp, A Gap In The Unknown. A Drawing Is A More Austere Work Than Painting: It Is More Mystical Because It Is About Reaching The Fire, The Incandescent Brazier; Sometimes It Is A Matter Of A Few Strokes And The Fire Is Stolen, Captured, Seized In Its Fleetingness. Even, In Its Glimpsed Dazzlement. Painting Is A Metaphysical, Spiritual Approach, A True Pilgrim's Approach. Not A Day Without Mozart, His Grace And His Gravity. Painting And Music Merge, They Both Speak Of The Same Thing, They Seek To Understand Each Other. Reach The Same Vibration, Something Infinitely Sacred. Mozart Achieved This...What I Admire Most About Him Is His Lightness And Lightness. And This So Subtle Way Of Still Being In The Religious, This Slowness And This Haste That He Puts Everything At Stake. Both In The Score. I Place Mozart Above All Composers In The Whole World, He Reached To The Highest Level. The Universal, At The Highest Expression Of The Human Soul, He Knows Like No Other How To Make Emotions Vibrate, Thus Reaching The Secrets Of The World, The Most Buried Mysteries... .. Listening To It, I Feel The Whole Range Of Emotions, Comparable To That Of A Person. That Of Colors, Humor, Complaint, Misfortune, Happiness, Tenderness, Compassion, Pain. For Me, A Color Only Takes On Its Role, Its Timbre I Could Say, When There Is Another One Next To It. Next To It From Her. »