How often does a Picasso come along?

by philg

The Picasso show at the Whitney has some of us talking… “How often does a painter as good and innovative as Picasso come along?” One theory is that there are a lot of people who could be very talented painters, but they choose to do other things with their lives unless there is some kind of innovation in the art world that makes painting a congenial place for a creative person. Thus Picasso might have done something else if not for the fact that the Impressionists opened up a world of possibilities. In the history of painting, who are the folks who stand out as much as Picasso and how often have they come along? Some possibilities: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens, Vermeer, Goya.

6 thoughts on “How often does a Picasso come along?”

  2. The same question is asked about scientists and similar. We have people like Newton, Euler, Gauss, Maxwell, Einstein. Within the confinces of this list, it looks like knock-out class genius is a relatively rare, ~ once or twice a century, phenomena. We are long overdue a new Einstein.

  3. As you point out it’s sort of like a wave cresting in energy. Ideas need to be absorbed and possibilities explored, there ahas to be an orthodoxy to rebel against, the artist/ scientist/musician has to have a gift for self promotion and confidence in themselves, etc., My perception is that the art world is still exploring the possibilities of the territories opened up by Picasso.

  4. You cannot create geniuses, but you can encourage them.

    Look at the great classical music that came out of the music-friendly environment in Germany and Austria that produced Beethoven, Mozart, Bach(s) and Strauss(es) among others.

    A related question might be, “what is our current culture going to give us more of, considering what it values as being important”?

    The optimist says $sports_figure. The pessimist says “Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan throwing up in the bushes outside a trendy nightclub.”

  6. PICASSO WAS A GENIUS, YES, BUT HE WAS JUST A POSIBILITY, A PATH CHOOSED FOR THE SPECIAL CIRCUNSTANCES OF THE current culture OF HIS TIME. OTHER “PICASSOS” WHERE IGNORED AND THEIR ART WORK LOST, OTHER PLASTIC SOLUTIONS DISMISSED.

    THE ABOVE PREMISE OPEN THE DOOR FOR A NEW HANDFULL OF “PICASSOS” FROM WHERE TO PICK AND ENCOURAGE THE NEW.

    THEY WILL COME. WE HAVE TO BE READY.

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