Method in madness? their
Mind frame Do demons kindle creativity? We invite experts into the world of the tortured artist…
“There’s some romanticising that goes on about the tortured artist,” says Weta Workshop artist Greg Broadmore, “but generally that idea doesn’t hold as much water in the world of art for entertainment.” While sceptical of such notions, he admits his job can be an “emotional rollercoaster.”
“Your art is you, no matter what the subject, and so to put it out there can make you feel vulnerable. We put great pressures on ourselves. Often I’m frustrated or even depressed by my work. I just want it to be better; it’s never as good as I want it to be. I don’t share that feeling externally very often, so it can weigh me down.”
The idea of the tortured artist took root with the Romantics in the early part of the 19th century. Romanticism, which valued subjectivity and individualism above all else, saw madness as a kind of elevated state – a place to unlock hidden genius and uncover profound truths. The madman was someone who adventured into the unknown, the insane artist held up as a hero.
But long before the Romantics, Plato planted the seeds of this idea. The philosopher suggested madness was a “gift of heaven,” something which “comes from God, whereas sober sense is merely human.” Join the dots between Plato, the Romantic Movement and Van Gogh and you can see
I’m frustrated or even depressed by my work. I just want it to be better; it’s never as good as I want it to be
The Madness of Hugo Van Der Goes, by Emile Wauters, features the classic visage of the tortured artist. how the idea of the tortured artist has grown into the intractable myth it is today.
Nykolai Aleksander – a self-confessed Leonardo da Vinci addict who knows her art history – says, in the past, the artist was a craftsman who didn’t enjoy the same social status as is afforded them now. They laboured under
The Madness of Hugo Van Der Goes depicts its subject wide-eyed, dishevelled, with one hand clawing at the other. The artist is sat in the monastery where he sought refuge from his demons.
Van Der Goes – at the time, dean of the painters’ guild in Ghent, Belgium – entered Roode Kloster in 1475. Here he suffered a mental breakdown, attempted suicide and died seven years later. He continued to paint throughout this time, but was said to be dissatisfied with his work – the story that’s told in Emile Wauters’ 19th-century painting.
Vincent Van Gogh wrote in a July 1888 letter to brother Theo: “I am not ill, but without the slightest doubt I’d get that way if I don’t eat well and if I don’t stop painting for a few days. As a matter of fact, I’m again pretty nearly reduced to the madness of Hugo Van Der Goes in Wauters’ painting.”
It was not the only time the Dutch artist compared himself to Van Der Goes. Art critic Jonathan Jones describes Van Gogh – who, missing much of an ear and after a stint in an asylum, is believed to have shot himself and died from his injuries in 1890 – as being “fascinated, and perhaps inspired by, the story of this medieval artist’s madness.” The most famous of tortured artists, it seems, was himself captivated by a tortured artist. Should we be surprised if the rest of the art world has followed suit?
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