Thursday, November 18, 2010

Paul Gauguin




Self Portrait, 1893


"Poor artist!  You gave away part of your soul when you painted the picture which you are now trying to dispose of."









French Artist


1848 - 1903













Tahitian Women on the Beach

1891


The ying and the yang for most artists is the conflict between the passion for creating and the need to eat, between time spend painting and time spend selling.  How do we balance these two opposites?  Most of us would prefer to paint, to write and to compose, but we also have the need to feed our families and to a lesser extent ourselves.  Some people take jobs teaching.  Others work in business.  The poet Wallace Stevens spent his career as a lawyer for an insurance company.  How do you balance the need for creating art and the need for cash to live?