I lived in London for a time in the ’90s and I love it here. You know, I just go and see shows and have great dinners and walk around.

Theres something in music that fascinates me – how it communicates emotion so immediately. Thats something I wanted in my paintings.

Romanticism is not just about being in a fixed state of endless beauty, because you can’t live like that or live on that, that’s what I’ve learnt.

I like the really human sides of people. To meet them and see that theyre complicated and weird or shy or any of those things sort of makes it even better to know that they can rise above that and make something great.

Theres something in music that fascinates me - how it communicates emotion so immediately. Thats something I wanted in my paintings.

In 19th-century France, artists were part of government. Artists are very sensitive to their time. They're very thoughtful people - it makes sense to hear what they have to say.

To paint well, I need to be enraptured by my subjects.

There's something in music that fascinates me - how it communicates emotion so immediately. That's something I wanted in my paintings.

The faces people make when they are photographed and the face they have when you draw them are very different.

No one is famous when they wake up in the morning, so it's nice seeing people in moments when they're just being themselves.