Diller felt that artists, as a whole, were greatly under-appreciated in American society. He understood the struggles of being an artist in the early 20th century. In an interview with Harlan Phillips, Diller noted "one thing that certainly characterized [art during his lifetime] was lack of work, lack of money just to get the necessities of life. I mean, you learned to eat practically nothing so you could buy a tube of paint, and so on and so forth. You had a little part time job, or you'd pick up all sorts of crazy things in order to exist. It seemed to be true of all the artists.""Oral history interview with Burgoyne Diller" Archives of American Art
