They [ Boccioni and Severini ] did not want anything to do with me in Paris and they were right: they have gone much further than I, but I will work and I too will progress.

Balla is quoted here by his former pupil Umberto Boccioni, in his letter to his Futurist art-friend (and also former pupil of Balla) Gino Severini, Jan. 1913; as quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 248

Balla was referring to his two former pupils