The Myth of Artistic Creativity

Looking at popular works of art, poems and novels, one can’t help but be amazed at the beauty and creativeness behind it. When I first looked at Guernica by Pablo Picasso in my AP Art History class in eleventh grade, all I saw was an extraordinary piece depicting the Spanish civil war and never really paid attention to the fact that it took a lot of time, work and creativity to come up with this.

The article, "The Myth of Artistic Creativity" makes many interesting points on how creativity comes about that I never really stopped and took the time to think about. Many think a burst of creativity just occurs. You’re walking down the hallway on your way back from class and bam, inspiration hits you and you come out with an amazing piece of work no one has ever thought of before. This article opened up my eyes to see creativity doesn’t just happen. It comes in steps. Starting at the beginning with just a little idea and growing and growing that idea even larger until a great outcome occurs.

Creativity is defined as the use of imagination or original ideas. Although, if you think about it, artists have to get an idea from somewhere and the passage gives into the idea that artists either take forms of their earlier artwork or art from other artists and make it grow and evolve. Picasso started his journey creating Guernica with multiple sketches. Incorporating different aspects until he finally knew how to put it all together and create a strong message as well as an influential picture for the viewers while also incorporating artistic methods like collage and cubism.

What I learned from this article is that creativity is a process. It doesn’t just happen out of the blue, it takes time and effort. Even in poetry does it take a "page full of crossed-out lines, phrases and words and is graphic evidence of the extensive amount of work involved in producing five or even ten lines of poetry". The myth about creativity is that you’ll magically get a surge of inspiration one day. The truth is it take little steps, eventually leading you to an ah-ha! moment. I think one can look at creativity as a human. First it learns to move its limbs, eventually being able to hold up its own neck and sit up on its own, begin to crawl and then take its first steps and finally walk. It takes time and practice and improvements in little aspects that eventually lead to success as a whole.