The renowned Renaissance artist Michelangelo* took four years of single-handed effort to finish his works on the Sistine Chapel dome. Much of the time he had to operate lying on his back, causing him considerable pain and permanently damaging his health. Heroic endurance like that of Michelangelo shows how powerful the desire of the artist to create. Almost always the artist needs a powerful desire to produce if he is to make use of whatever talents he has.
People often ask if those abilities are inborn or acquired. Obviously, no one is born to an artist in the sense that he can forgo all training in the skills of his particular art. Yet neither of them will train alone to make any man an artist. In short, preparation and inborn skills are important for every artist. For example, Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart* of the 18th century started composing at the age of five and at the age of seven gave concerts in Europe. Clearly, this exceptional talent was due primarily to his inborn ability, but even such precocious talents needed a certain amount of training before the young Mozart could play in public.
A key part of an artist's training is to recognize his specific art's limits and possibilities. Long before its unique qualities are apparent, the child who is to be an artist can use games to grow his talents. Games are a crucial part of the growing cycle for everybody, an aspiring artist or not. For example, games like "mothers and fathers" teach kids about the ways of the adult world. In this way, many of the enjoyable children come from these faithful games unwittingly because they have learned their personalities ' shortcomings and skills. And it is in this sense that an artist is a man who never stops playing. His work is a serious attempt to probe the limits and explore the possibilities of his particular art.
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| Children express their interest and excitement in the world around them spontaneously, uninfluenced by conventional artistic techniques. |
Factors that can restrict art at a given time include a series of rules designed to control ideas and methods. In the past, many artists chose to work in compliance with a fixed set of rules. French painter Nicolas Poussin* of the 17th century developed according to carefully thought-out rules which he learned from his study of the great Renaissance painters. At the time of Poussin, several art academies* were founded in the conviction that painting can simply be mastered by following these rules. Nevertheless, the imaginative urge is not so easily satisfied. The genuinely talented artist must be free. It can prove useful to him for any experience and idea. That is why the creative urge cannot always find an outlet simply by following a set of rules.
Because in creative art there are no safety rules, each time the artist breaks new ground he takes a new risk. Therefore, the work of a great artist is marked not only by its accomplishments but also by failures. Beethoven*, for example, wrote a War Symphony (a patriotic selection of tunes in a symphony) that is generally believed to be far below the standards set by his other works.
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| The 15th-century Italian artist Michelangelo made this sketch (top) for the figure of the Libyan Sibyl on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (right). Most artists make such detailed studies before beginning work. |
Effective creative work usually requires great technical ability, and without years of experimentation, few artists attain these skills. That is why most artists create their finest work between the ages of 3o and 40, as history shows. However, there are many exceptions to that generalization. The French painter Paul Gauguin* did not dedicate himself seriously to painting until he was 35, and some artists in their old age have reached the peak of their creative activity.
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