Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive; the place occupied by my figures, the empty space around them, the proportions, everything has its share.
"Notes d'un Peintre". "La Grande Revue", as translated by Jack Flam in "Matisse on Art" (1995), December 25, 1908.