The Thin Line Between Artistic Genius and Madness

I have often wondered if the characters in Hieronymus Bosch's paintings haunted his dreams. The nightmarish depictions of evil were painted to serve as warnings, but are they the result of the artist's personal demons? It's not easy to think that such horrible monstrosities could have been the creation of a sane and tranquil man.

Troubled Geniuses

It's no doubt that Bosch's paintings are the work of a creative genius. The hybrid beasts, the seemingly random pairings of unlikely objects, and occurrences of odd sights in odd places were parts of dreamy landscapes which predated the Surrealism movement by four centuries. This was a man ahead of his time.

With the Christian faith always seeking a visual complement to the pulpits, the masses were served doses of doomsday forewarnings in the form of art to keep them straight and pious. Though never officially commissioned to serve the Church, Bosch was the man for this mission: to not only get his point across to the viewers, but to smack them with it like a bag of hammers and leave mental imagery to stay for a long time to come. The Hell Panel on the Garden of Earthly Delights doesn't get forgotten quickly. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Scholars have hypothesized that Bosch's pictures were much deeper than simple apocalyptic forecasts. Some have even interpreted his work in terms of Freudian psychology, with insights into the human subconscious. Either way, I'm willing to wager that anyone capable of producing such fantastical paintings was well in touch with his own subconscious and dreams- or nightmares. Nothing is known about the state of his psychological health.

You've heard the adage that there's a thin line between genius and madness. It never seems to fail. Some of the brightest and most creative artists, musicians, arithmeticians, and strategists have led troubled lives or eventually crack. Often, the status quo is the least comfortable idea for them, and forging ahead with their creations is met with confusion and misunderstanding by the world at large.

Vincent van Gogh turned to drawing and painting relatively late after a failed try at a life of the cloth. Flunking out of seminary school, it was soon apparent to Vincent that his interpersonal awkwardness and short temper would never allow him to be a preacher. Nonetheless, he was filled with spiritual ideas and wanted to shout his sermons to the world. Financial success only meant that he could continue to fund his mission. Painting was his vehicle of choice. The masses would view his creations and share in his energy.

Only the masses and Vincent seemed to live in separate universes. No one understood him but his dear brother Theo, who would eventually be the lone purchaser of his art. Even his promising mission partner Gauguin would not be able to understand. The world was not quite ready to accept the van Gogh philosophy and wasn't capable of respecting and appreciating his art and ideas. Eventually, after two months of frenzied working, producing a canvas a day, and with the world against him, Vincent painted his last wheat field, went and sat in that wheat field, and shot himself.

Art history is filled with misunderstood, troubled artists. They lived at odds with the world like van Gogh, were reclusive and strange like James Ensor, prone to violence like Michelangelo, or Caravaggio, morbid like Francis Bacon or Edvard Munch, rife with personal hardships like Frida Kahlo and Fransico Goya... The list goes on. In some cases, art and creativity could have been the cause of degenerative health.

Living a hard life seems to be a prerequisite for great artists. Sometimes that hardship comes in the form of mental illness. It's possible that mental illness is the reason of high levels of creativity in some people. This is common, for instance, with schizophrenics, with high levels of ingenuity and creativity showing as the illness worsens. Mental hospitals have been known to house some highly original artists.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? In either case, some of the greatest art has been made either at high cost, or as the result of adversity. I can only wish and wonder if the tragic lives of artists like Vincent van Gogh had not been cut short, what could have been created. What would his paintings have looked like in 1891 and beyond?

We all live through adversity. It's a part of life. Whether this is good or bad for art, who is to say? Just promise me you'll see a therapist the first instant you ponder cutting your ear off.