Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso.all famous painters notorious for evoking emotion with their paintings. The whole purpose of painting is to make the viewer feel something, not just think a painting a lovely wall decoration. Painting is a form of self-expression, elegance, and intelligence. It's thoughts and feelings dancing across a naked canvas in multi-colored hues. Painting is more than just "painting"-- for some, it's a way of life.
Painters are made, not born. Certain situations, instabilities, losses, and rejections serve as a catalyst for wielding talent. Painters need inspiration, which they gather from life experience, or of what they have witnessed and participated in life.
Vincent van Gogh was rejected by three women whom he loved in his life, as well was mentally and emotionally unstable. He was always known as keeping to himself as a child. He lived a prostitute, Sein, who was pregnant with a five-year old daughter. She became a model he used frequently. Eventually, he left her and had a love affair with Margot Begemann, who later attempted suicide. (Brooks, pg 3-4).
Leonardo da Vinci was born an illegitimate child, and when his father died, he was left with nothing. He grew up surrounded by art and scholarly texts, which he was educated in. He painted cadavers and paved the way for anatomy diagrams. He painted many pictures for the pope, and while he was working with Michaelango, he painted his most famous work, the Mona Lisa. (Famouspainter.com, pg 1).
Pablo Picasso had a fairly good life. He traveled and met many fellow painters. Picasso had a bad marriage filled with tension to his dancer wife, Olga Koklova, which inspired some pretty gruesome artwork about women. He also survived two World Wars. (RenoirAuction.com, pg 2-3).
All three were admitted into art academies to hone their skills. Their potential was so obvious, even at a young age. As Picasso was once quoted, "every child is an artist.