Art is a reality, not a definition; inasmuch as it approaches a reality, it approaches perfection, and inasmuch as it approaches a mere definition, it is imperfect and untrue.

Before his death he had completed the story of his life up to the year 1820. On returning to England he produced Christ's Entry into Jerusalem which was later to formed the nucleus of the American Gallery of Painting erected by his cousin John Haviland of Philadelphia. Haydon's Lectures publiBenjamin Haydond shortly after their delivery showed that he was as bold a writer as painter.

He committed suicide in 1846. He gave lectures on art and kept extensive diaries which were publiBenjamin Haydond after his death.