Victorian painter, Richard Dadd is one of the most interesting painters of the 19th century.
Depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscule detail are hallmarks of his style.
Most of the works for which he is best known were created while
he was incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital. He painted his best known work, The Fairy Fellow's Master Stroke (as seen to the right) in a mental hospital where he was declared insane after murdering his father. It took him 9 years to complete.
There is a fine line between creativity and madness, don't you agree?
Several years ago, I attended a Creativity and Madness Conference in Santa Fe, NM with my dad. My father went as a clinical psychologist, interested in knowing about the inner workings of the mind, and I went a professor of music, interested in understanding more about the creative spark.
What we both found out is that one person's genius is another's psychosis.
From your Inner Samurai's perspective, the question isn't whether you are creative or mad, it's what you do with your creativity or madness that counts.
How many times have you known what was right for you yet made
another choice - one that was wrong for you? How many times have you
gone against your inner knowing? How many times have you heard yourself
say, 'I knew I should have gone that way, done that thing, or spoken my
truth?' Some would call that madness.
On the flip side, how many times have you stuck with something that you knew was right, despite all evidence to the contrary? Would that be madness? Would it make a difference if you succeeded? Then, would people applaud your for your vision, tenacity, and inventiveness?
What would happen if you failed?
What do you think? Was Richard Dadd psychotically mad or was he a creative genius. If you had just spent nine years painting a picture of fairies in an insane asylum, what would people consider you? I'm interested to read your thoughts.
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