Extraordinary Painters and Writers of the 20th Century
Many extraordinary painters and writers can be found throughout the history of art. However, even among them, some have stood out to a greater or lesser degree than others. Their worldview and approach to life, which differ from those of ordinary people, are often perceived as madness. Yet the great surrealist artist Salvador Dalí once said:
“Even the greatest psychologists have not been able to determine where genius ends and madness begins.”
So, we’ve prepared some interesting facts from the lives of the most extraordinary artists of the past century — just for you.
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Salvador Dalí
“The Persistence of Memory”, S. Dalí
“Mechanism and Hand”, S. Dalí
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Marina Tsvetayeva
Marina Tsvetaeva is considered one of the most extraordinary female poets of her time. She had a very independent character, and her life can be seen entirely as an act of protest. Marina Ivanovna never cared about public opinion. Tsvetaeva also preferred to dress in a masculine style. When ordering clothes, she often requested that suits be tailored according to male standards.
In addition, her biography is rich with numerous romantic relationships — including affairs with women and with friends of her husband, Sergey Efron. Despite having three children, she was not fond of other people’s children. This may have been the reason why she placed her children in an orphanage, where her younger daughter tragically passed away.
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Frans Kafka
Franz Kafka, the author of the famous novella The Metamorphosis, is considered one of the most unusual writers of the 20th century due to the contradictory nature reflected in his works. His uniqueness began with his complicated relationship with his family — they did not approve of his interest in writing. Kafka avoided marriage throughout his life, and most of his novels were built around correspondence. Nevertheless, after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, he decided to marry.
Kafka had insecurities related to his health problems — such as insomnia and migraines. In order to refresh himself, he engaged in physical exercises, which included stretching and jumping near the window of his apartment in Prague, often half-naked or completely nude. Most of Kafka’s writings reached us only after his death, thanks to his friend who decided to publish them, even though Kafka had requested that they be destroyed.
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Marina Abramoviç
Serbian artist and the so-called “grandmother” of performance art, Marina Abramović, is world-famous for her unusual experiments and performances. One of her most recognized works is the performance piece Balkan Baroque, in which Abramović spent hours cleaning 1,500 cow bones with a brush. In another performance, Thomas’s Lips, she carved a five-pointed star into her stomach using a razor blade.
Abramović’s most famous social experiment later became widely known to the public. This experiment, titled Rhythm 0, had a concept that was both simple and profound: for six hours, Marina allowed people to have complete control over her body. The audience was presented with 72 objects — including matches, a knife, nails, a chain, wine, honey, a piece of cake, and alcohol. By the third hour, people who initially behaved politely and cautiously gradually became more aggressive, turning the experience into a horrifying ordeal.
Abramović later recalled:
“That night when I returned to the hotel and looked in the mirror, I saw a single gray hair. It was astonishing how quickly people revert to a primitive, cave-like state when given permission.”
What sets Marina Abramović apart from other artists of her time is not only her extraordinary performances but also the striking facts about her personal life. For instance, the play The Life and Death of Marina Abramović portrays the difficulties in her relationship with her mother and includes an episode from the artist’s childhood. In this scene, a fourteen-year-old Marina plays Russian roulette using her mother’s gun.
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Ernest Heminquey
Nobel Prize laureate and American author Ernest Hemingway is renowned for his contributions to world literature. His works such as The Old Man and the Sea, A Moveable Feast, and others are widely known. However, few people are aware of the difficult life he led and the extraordinary episodes in his biography. Hemingway lived through five wars, four car accidents, and two plane crashes, during which he sustained numerous injuries and disabilities. He spent his entire life trying to recover from the consequences of war — and, according to sources, was helped in this by his beloved cats, of which he reportedly had sixty.
Hunting also helped Hemingway escape from reality. He was passionate about it and once shot four hundred wild rabbits in a single day. In 1938, he set a world record by catching seven marlins at sea in one day.
Author: Amina Akbarova
