Surprising Art and Creativity Facts
Fact · 8 facts — swipe through each one · May 31, 5:00 PM
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand while drawing with the other at the same time.
Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, and it was to a friend.
The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows because it was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off.
Claude Monet, a founder of French Impressionism, used to destroy his own paintings if he was dissatisfied with them.
The color wheel, still used by artists today, was invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1704.
The modern concept of 'artistic genius' emerged during the Renaissance, shifting the perception of artists from craftsmen to creative visionaries.
Jackson Pollock used to lay his canvases on the floor to drip paint onto them, a technique known as action painting.
Michelangelo carved the David from a block of marble that another sculptor had already started and deemed irreparable.
The Creativity We Run From
University of Chicago — Mrazek et al. (2013) · May 25, 4:36 PM
“Avoidance is the echo of our untapped potential.”
Recently, I've noticed a curious pattern in my life: the tasks I avoid are often the ones that, if tackled, would lead t…
The Insight
The tasks we avoid often signal where our greatest creative potential lies.
The Unseen Patterns of Flow
Stanford University — Csikszentmihalyi (2022) · Apr 10, 11:46 AM
“We dance to the rhythm of routines, blind to their steps.”
I often find myself lost in the rhythm of daily tasks, too preoccupied to notice them becoming ingrained patterns. Yet,…
The Insight
In the repetition of patterns, we find both the familiar and the freedom to create anew.
Interesting Facts About Art and Creativity
Fact · 8 facts — swipe through each one · Apr 5, 9:42 AM
Leonardo da Vinci spent 12 years painting the lips of the Mona Lisa.
Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, yet he completed over 900 works.
The oldest recorded 'art' is a shell with a zigzag engraving dating back 540,000 years.
Claude Monet destroyed up to 500 of his own paintings in fits of frustration.
The first documented use of the term 'artificial intelligence' was in a 1956 conference at Dartmouth College which has since influenced creative digital art developments.
The famous melting clocks in Salvador Dalí's 'The Persistence of Memory' were inspired by Camembert cheese melting in the sun.
The word 'cartoon' originally referred to preparatory sketches for fine art, rather than the animations we know today.
Artists Piet Mondrian and Snoop Dogg share the same birthday, March 7th.