Self-Portrait (1837) |
"What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough."
French Artist
1798 - 1863
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery (1923) |
Why do you write? Why do you paint? What inspires your creative work? Do you have something new to say to the world? Are you obsessed with telling the world what you know? We each create for different reasons — some we are conscious of and others that are hidden even from us.
I personally believe that there is little in the universe of humanity that has not been thought, said or written by someone somewhere, but fortunately, we have forgotten much of what has been learned by previous generations and each generation has to learn anew. It is in the relearning of the forgotten that we have the inspiration to create what has not been created — to reshape the myths of the world.
I challenge each creative leader to study history — to understand what happened before you were born. It is in the knowing of the past that you can begin to reshape the future — to create anew that which is ancient, to find the thread that ties us together.
Liberty Leading the People (1830) The Louvre |