Pop culture loves the idea of the tragic, starving artist – the tortured soul yearning to be recognized for his or her talent as they waste away in a New York City studio. Scientists, meanwhile, are enamored with the idea that there might be a genetic reason why artists suffer. Plagued with mental illness, Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso are the sparks igniting a ferocious debate over how scholars analyze their masterpieces. Are Van Gogh’s erratic, revolutionary strokes pure creative genius, or a result of his fragilepsychologicalhealth? Canweconclude that Munch’s artistic prowess was pre-destined by his mental struggles? Picasso’s “blue period” was influenced by his depression; do all great artists suffer? And is creativity limited to writing, music, art, and dance? These inquiries all converge toward one overarching question: is there a link between creativity and mental illness? Recent genetics studies and anecdotal evidence paint a kaleidoscopic picture of how mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder influence, or perhaps even predict, creativity.
Amanda Fortin (Fri,) studied this question.