Muse or Ruse? | Psychology Today
Rated • 1 review • art, creativity, inspiration, artistic, muses • psychologytoday.com
Sources of Creativity
"Something unexplainable and mysterious does occur during the creative process, agrees Root-Bernstein, but only if the creator has both talent and technique, and, most important, is working hard. "You have to continually pull things together and imagine things," she says. "When these ideas start clicking, that's inspiration."
But if feelings and thoughts are inseparable, as the Root-Bernsteins argue, then emotions must be part of the creative stew. Love can stir up complex feelings, leaving the artist aching to express new ideas, theorizes Francine Prose in her 2002 book The Lives of the Muses. Active love can fuel the imagination, but an unattainable muse can also do the trick: "Unrequited love may be the metaphor for the making of art, for the fact that a finished work so rarely equals the initial impulse or conception, thus compelling the artist to start over and try again," Prose writes."
A muse can be a mirror: a reflection of the artist's desires, anxieties, dreams and needs. (Vince Aletti)
I agree strongly with this one
-to Camille Pissarro
Go to the country - The muse is in the woods. (Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot)
an a friend reminded me last night
The most potent muse of all is our own inner child. (Stephen Nachmanovitch)
