Depersonalized, maybe. Destroyed, possibly; I think really by the power of her beauty. It is as isolating as genius, or deformity. Unlike genius, it is one of the qualities that removes you from the world, but offers no real compensation. I have always been aware of a relationship between madness and beauty. Does this help to explain some of what appear to be contradictions in my work? It’s only one part. It had nothing to do with the discipline of work, and other things, but you will find, if you look to the portraits, that connection. A possibility of failure and danger and poetry in life — and the close line.
-Richard Avedon