'The painting that will last is the one that has been thought out, dreamed over, reflected on, produced from the mind...' Gustave Moreau, Matisse's tutor and artist in his own right (Open Door, Brittany by Matisse, 1896)

Jon Hopkins currently live on BBC Radio 3 is wondrous.

'You must create, between yourself and your object, a stronger and stronger bond … always remembering this truth, that the design is not to be found in the model but in ourselves.' Antoine Bourdelle (pictured with his sculpture of Hercules, c.1910)

'What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art which could be ... a soothing, calming influence on the mind' Matisse (The Open Window, Collioure, 1905)

´Oh, lead me onward to the loneliest shade, The dearest place that quiet ever made,
Where kingcups grow most beauteous to behold,
And shut up green and open into gold.´ John Clare

'A dahlia's first duty in life is to flaunt and to swagger … and on no account to hang its head.' Gertrude Jekyll Painting: The Artist's Garden in Argenteuil (A Corner of the Garden with Dahlias), 1873 by Monet

´Remember that the most beautiful things in life are often the most useless; peacock feathers and lilies for instance.’ John Ruskin - Colour Revolution at Ashmolean Museum is a dazzling eye-opener on colour in the Victorian age

'Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me Fluttering from the autumn tree...' Emily Brontë #NationalPoetryDay2023 (Pic: Autumn by George Henry)

Louise Glück 🖤

'It will be charming, it will be daring, it will be distinguished. It will be a book ... with style, a book with finish, a book that every book-lover will love at first sight; a book that will make book-lovers of many who are now indifferent to books.'

‘For art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments’ sake.’ Walter Pater (Reading Aloud by Albert Moore, 1884) #artforartssake

'While all melts under our feet, we may well grasp at any exquisite passion, or any contribution to knowledge that seems by a lifted horizon to set the spirit free for a moment...' Walter Pater (The Spring that Perpetually Renews Itself by Galileo Chini, 1914)

Book launch alert! 📢Celebrate 30 of Britain's most beautiful gardens with the launch of Vanessa Berridge's new book 'Garden Heaven' 🌺Fri 17 May | 4pm - 5pm | Free, booking essential 👉bit.ly/3U0HCYR

'Impressionism has produced...not only a new, but a very useful way of looking at things. It is as though all at once a window opens and the sun and air enter your house in torrents.' Marie Bracquemond (Camille at the Window by Claude Monet, 1873)

'...Happy is he who can with his vigorous wing Soar up towards those fields luminous and serene, He whose thoughts, like skylarks, Toward the morning sky take flight - Who hovers over life and understands with ease The language of flowers and silent things!' Baudelaire, Élévation

When you discover a work of art inspired by another work of art… Debussy’s L’isle Joyeuse (1904) taking its musical cue from Watteau’s The Embarkation for Cythera (1717) shorturl.at/hpEST

Join me and Vanessa Berridge next Friday 17 May at SissinghurstNT as we launch her new book, Garden Heaven, in the stunning surrounds of the Delos Garden - pre-booking essential tinyurl.com/4k2ahwuf (Photo ©National Trust Images/Annaick Guitteny)

Come and do a (funded!) doctorate on the architects Seely and Paget with David Lewis of Oxford Continuing Education Andrew Hann of English Heritage and me... oocdtp.ac.uk/partnership-se…