When I was little, my mother asked me what I would like to be when I grew up. We were sitting on the long staircase that soared to the second floor, draped across a few stairs. “I want to be an artist living in a garret in Paris.” Mom laughed. “If you want to be an artist, you will have to suffer. All artists suffer and have great tragedies in their lives.”
I was so young, I could not imagine suffering. There are so many artists that can be viewed via the miracle of the internet and it makes me wonder. So much color, so much passion, so much energy and creativity. Does it indicate an equal amount of suffering? Do artists truly suffer for their art? Or is this just an Old Wives Tale?