This is what I see when I close my eyes

[Bert]

I heard this sentence on a TV programme within the past two weeks - it might have been the on about Rodin's 'The Kiss' - it was said as though it was a quotation. When I put it on Google I found lots of hits, but I did not find an answer to my question, Is it a quotation and, if so, by whom, when and where from?

[gazzawazza]

I'm sure this was a poem used on an advert ages ago. I'm probably wrong but could it be John Betjamin or Rudyard Kipling?

[Quizmonster]

"I shut my eyes in order to see" is a quote from the artist, Paul Gauguin. He is obviously referring to the idea that 'mental visualisation' is as important as actually 'seeing' a picture.

I suspect the version you offer - as your Google search seems to confirm - is just a variation/extension of that idea and one that has been used in one form or another by many other people.