So that what with one thing and another, and with Watt's not wishing this, and with Watt's not wanting that, it seemed that Watt, as he was then, could never get into Erskine's room, never never get into Erskine's room, as it was then, and that for Watt to get into Erskine's room, as they were then, Watt would have to be another man, or Erskine's room another room.

Watt

Samuel Beckett

From 'What Painting Is' by james Elkins

'There might be a world of difference between a greasy oil and an oily grease, or a reddish white and a whitish red'

Extract from ‘Interviews with Francis Bacon’ by David Sylvester

F.B. …. I’m just trying to make images as accurately off my nervous system as I can. I don’t even know what half of them mean. I’m not saying anything. Whether one’s saying anything for other people, I don’t know. But I’m not really saying anything, because I’m probably much more concerned with the aesthetic qualities of a work than, perhaps, Munch was. But I’ve no idea what any artist is trying to say, except the most banal artists, I can think what Fuseli and people like that are trying to say.

D.S. Perhaps the tendency to interpret your work as saying something comes from the fact that people like to try and find a story in art and are rather starved of stories in the art of the times, so that, when they find an art like yours, it’s a great temptation to weave stories.

F.B. Yes, I’m sure it is.

D.S. Something similar has happened with Giacometti – the tendency to interpret his figures as Existential Man.

F.B. And how did he feel about that?

D.S. He thought it was rather crass. He said he was only trying to copy what he saw.

F.B. Exactly.