(June 3, 2015 at 11:32 pm)Jenny A Wrote: ...
Here's a nicer question: Do you think madness and artist genius are related? I consider myself pretty artistic and I do have a rather distinctive style, but I not Picasso setting off to set the art world on it's ear. Would it help if I were mad like Van Gogh. Do I have one ear too many?
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I think they are related, but are not necessarily connected. In order to be an artistic genius, one must be different from most people in the way one thinks. The same is true of madness (as it is normally understood).
Not that I have a large enough sample, nor that it is necessarily representative, but most of the very creative people I have known have serious mental problems. I remember one guy in college whose creativity seemed to be enhanced by his bouts of madness. I liked him better, though, when he was between such bouts, as he was a bit of an asshole when off his rocker.
I have only known one truly creative person who isn't crazy, though that individual seems particularly and extremely sane. But there is insanity in the family, most of whom are not creative (but one is).
So, I don't think you have to be crazy to be artistic, but I do think there is often a correlation. That is, a high percentage of artists seem to be a bit (or more than just a bit) crazy. But I don't get the impression that most crazy people are particularly artistic.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
