"..that one [a tree study in Gabriëls studio] is from my early times; I dont make them that way anymore; look how the thing is painted..; and those days my teachers told me that nothing would come of me in this way. What kind of folks were they? [o.a. his early and short teacher Koekoek, c. 1844-45] And which guys belonged to them? Well, lets keep mum about that; all those guys are dead already. But those days [c. 1840s] it was the ruling idea to use nature only as a tool; she had to be embellished later with imagination and so on .... imagination .... the stupidest thing in the world. (L. de Haes asked him: Do you think imagination is so improper?) Improper, I think it is simply an unhealthy trait. You see; imagination is the proper way to insanity. Imagine that you start painting from your imagination without knowing nature; after all, there will be no result whatsoever. All those people of imagination imagine so much, and it is the greatest misfortune you can have in life, you know what it is good for: to idealize your faults. (translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek)"
Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël or Paul Gabriël was a painter, draftsman, watercolorist, and etcher who belonged to the Hague School.
"Be something, be yourself; if not, ]then] throw your palette in the fire. Form a school if you wish, but it must come from the inside of you, but you yourself may not belong to any school. (translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek)"
"Amice, be so good, if it is not too late, to scrape the title lAprês-Midi [Afternoon, title of the work submitted for the exhibition] and simply put on it Paysage, for the simple reason.. ..because I chose the moment [in the work] that the sun starts to color and (sic) because there is vapor - many people will wrongly see it as a morning. Mauve will send another aquarelle.. (translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek)"
"(Gabriël advises her to make both big studies and small ones) [and small studies,] ..for throwing in three curses and a sigh - forgive me that corny expression - impressions and transient effects on the canvas. Observe especially the hue of every occurring moment. (translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek)"
"Peintre Paysagiste des Polders Hollandais, (Landscape Painter of the Dutch Polders)"
"[to mr. L. de Haes] Well, go upstairs, you know the way; are you going to take a look? At the moment you will not find many special things, but you find always something; and then we have another chat, anyway. Go ahead, Ill follow you; beware of entering because there is a large painting just in front of the door. (translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek)"
"Gabriel lived entirely in an atmosphere of art, and if he seemed to take little interest in what was going on outside, probably his deafness may have contributed somewhat to that. That deafness, however, was a great obstacle to him in the daily companionship with friends and acquaintances, and put him in a relative loneliness in which he preferred to separate himself with art and his nightingales. I still remember very clearly that, during one of my visits, I showed him my surprise to find in his studio singing nightingales. Gabriel replied that he was so fond of those birds, because their singing clearly struck and caressed his sense of hearing. (translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek)"