Artists Never Retire
Many of the great artists around the world lived to be very old. Picasso was 92, Salvador Dali 85, Georgia O¹Keefe 98 and Marc Chagall 98. Claude Monet, one of histories greatest impressionists died in 1926 at 86. Miro was 93, Matisse 85, Degas 83, and Renoir 78. Many of these artists lived during times when average life spans were in the 40s and 50s. Hokusai, one of the greatest of all Japanese painters was born in 1760 and lived to be 89. Hans Hals died in 1666 at 86 while Camille Corot died at 81 in 1875. The world recently lost one of their most prolific Abstract Expressionists, Willem DeKoonig at 93. Andrew Wyeth, considered one of our greatest American painters is still going strong at 82. The list can go on and on, Hans Hoffmann 86, Georges Braque 81, Alexander Calder 78 and Edvard Munch 82.
This is not by coincidence. The longevity of a human being is directly related to the size of their purpose. The human organism lives off of motivation and aspiration. Once these elements cease to exist, the body shuts down.
Artists never retire.” Many have painted or created until their last days. It has often been said that most famous artists were not considered worthy of greatness until after fifty years of age. It takes time to develop technique, purpose and style. There-in lies one of the benefits to being an artist, “You get better with age.”
It takes many years of hard work and persistent practice to become proficient in creating art. I¹m enlightened to know that I have as much time as my existence will afford without any borders or ceilings to block my pathway, empowering me to create art today that will be better than the art I created yesterday.
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