Look at Kurt Cobain, Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley, Dali, Van gogh, Pollock... many others.
2007-10-26 09:16:32 · 9 answers · asked by person 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Other - Arts & Humanities
Not at all. Tormented artists are sometimes great, but the vast majority of them are just failures. Being 'tormented' is really just a pose, and an extremely arrogant one. It's just another way of asserting specialness, much like the snootiness of an aristocrat or the pseudo-folksiness of politicians. It does have a basis in reality; all artists, whether in music or scultpure, poetry or painting, even science and philosophy, really do have unusual ways of seeing the world. Allowing it to become a torment is a way of becoming morally superior to everybody else; 'if only everyone could see what I see, oh how sad they'd surely be,' kinda thing.
I've met lots of tormented artists who're starving and who have paid so little attention to form and technique that their work doesn't translate to anybody else. I told my English teacher I didn't care about such things when I was a senior in high school but over time I learned that she was write and I was an idiot kid.
This is the greatest pitfall for artists of every stripe: to believe that the unique vision they've been blessed with makes them better than anyone or even everyone else. When the world doesn't agree, as it usually doesn't, it can turn inward and out comes the self-tortured artist nobly suffering his/her horrendous visions all alone in an uncaring world. It ruins lives, even to suicide, when a little humility would be salvation.
Even the great tortured artists aren't always great. I don't much care for any of the ones on your list, I wouldn't call any of them great, not even Van Gogh. Their popularity is a sort of cultural fad, and being tormented only adds to the mystique. There are plenty of tormented artists who surpass them (IMO) without having the reputation of being tormented, such as Tchaikovsky or Oscar Wilde.
In the end, though these torments are self-inflicted, they are nonetheless real. Only recently have we discovered how habits of thought actually become hardened neural pathways in the brain, meaning that it is literally possible to drive yourself mad. The best bet is to swallow your pride while still young before you end up scratching sand sculptures for pennies at the beach while muttering darkly to yourself that someday the world will acknowledge your genius. Even if it does, what good would it do you when you're already neck deep in the slough of despond?
2007-10-26 09:50:33 · answer #1 · answered by thelairdjim 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
As has been depicted in many movies, torment (pain) is an effective means of being forced to focus on a single mental point. In the arts, this may lead to creativity. It does not, however, bestow, skill. If you smash my thumb with a hammer, it will hurt, I will be in pain/torment, I will focus, but I will still be an extremely lousy artist. My poetry, on the other hand, in which I do have some skill and practice, frequently, but not always, may enjoy a bump in creativity of expression and focus. It will not make me a Poe, Byron, or Browning.
Pain/Torment can bring out the best in a person's skills, but does not create those skills in a person, otherwise, three billion people on this planet would be putting Van Gogh, Browning, and Mozart to shame.
2007-10-26 17:23:22 · answer #2 · answered by David Bowman 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm sorry, did you just compare Kurt Cobain with Van Gogh
2007-10-26 16:20:19 · answer #3 · answered by dino 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think tormented artists are usually better artist but not always. It just usually they have more emotions willing they are willing to express artistically. Also, these emotions like anger and sadness usually have more vibrant representations. But truly, its how well an artist can communicate an idea artistically that credits him/her as being "good," well that along with some originality.
2007-10-26 16:23:05 · answer #4 · answered by M 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Think allot of the great artists are like Sh amen, to ac heave great insights, they must go out on the limb in life to get the really deep insights.
2007-10-26 16:41:46 · answer #5 · answered by Dave M 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think ALL artists are tormented in some way. This may be why they become so creative. It is an escape for them.
2007-10-26 16:24:43 · answer #6 · answered by L.A. H 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A lot of the time yes - here is another example:
James Hetfield
2007-10-26 16:21:06 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
no. i like happy paintings better. and you can't capture happiness if you're never happy.
2007-10-26 16:19:10 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They seemed to have more soul.
2007-10-26 16:19:12 · answer #9 · answered by Rylee's Mommy 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋