Picture this:
A sleep-deprived, mildly unhinged, misunderstood genius is surrounded by half-finished masterpieces with a dramatic cigarette in his hand. Locked away in a dimly lit studio, fuelled by heartbreak, existential dread, and maybe a questionable amount of red wine (or opioids).
Bonus points: you dramatically stare out of a window waiting for a creative lightning bolt to hit you.
Let’s be serious for a second.
This whole “tortured artist” thing might sound just like any other ridiculous stereotype… but it’s also one of the most damaging beliefs STILL floating the online business space, even if you don’t see yourself as a creative.
So we’re taking to Art History (I’m a Fine Arts graduate, after all) to understand how exactly this narrative shows up in your day-to-day as a service provider:
Plus, we can agree we should all stop romanticising burnout… right?
We all know the type. The dramatic, permanently misunderstood genius who can't create anything of value without a side of existential despair.
Because obviously, talent only counts if it's fuelled by suffering, right?
It's a bit of a cliché at this point, but this whole thing didn't just appear out of nowhere. We didn't collectively wake up one day and decide emotional instability was a prerequisite for creativity.
If you go back far enough, artists were craftsmen. They trained, joined apprenticeships, and were commissioned to produce work as part of a profession.
Things started to shift when Michelangelo depicted himself as the flayed, empty skin in the Sistine Chapel: symbolising his pain, exhaustion, and (perhaps) the emotional toll of that immense work.
By the time Romanticism and Modern Art rolled around, the artist had transformed into a mythical figure: the misunderstood genius who suffers deeply for their work.
(side note: you'll notice there weren't many "tortured female artists" until much later in history. Women didn't get to be misunderstood geniuses. They were just labelled hysterical or unstable. But that rant's for another episode)
So we've got Van Gogh, who only sold one painting in his lifetime. Beethoven, composing while losing his hearing. The entire club of tortured artists. All held up as proof that suffering and brilliance go hand in hand.
But let's actually look at Van Gogh for a second.
He wasn't a phenomenal artist because of his mental illness. He was a great artist despite it. In just over a decade, he created around 2,100 works, including roughly 860 oil paintings, most of them in the final two years of his life.
I did the maths: that's about one piece every two days. You know what I call that? Practice.
We love to romanticise the suffering and skip right past the discipline. We talk about the breakdowns, the ear, the tragedy... and completely ignore the fact that he showed up to create, again and again and again.
His mental illness was severe. Genuinely, painfully severe. He harmed himself. He spent all his money on supplies with little left for food. He never got to experience the recognition his work would later receive. And I don't think there's anything romantic about that.
As a society, we place higher value on art that comes from struggle. The artist who sacrifices for their craft is seen as more authentic, more committed, more real.
Like if it didn't cost you something, it's somehow less valuable.
And while we keep idolising creativity as something that can only come from hardship or from a shining star of talent you're either born with or not, artists will keep believing that if they haven't suffered enough, they can never aspire to be one of the greats.
Suffering can't be a badge of honour. It can't turn into a trend. And believing you need to suffer to create just reveals how much we've misunderstood what creativity (and art) actually is.
It's surprisingly easy, without even noticing, to build your entire identity around this stereotype. Even if you don't think of yourself as a "creative," you start associating your value with how hard it feels.
Which is why actually reaching a point of ease — where you're genuinely okay in your business — feels so uncomfortable. We default back to: am I working hard enough? Am I even pushing myself? Like anything short of burnout is just proof you're being complacent.
(FYI: that's called Imposter Syndrome.)
I see this constantly with online service providers & solopreneurs. We don't trust ease. If our ideas come naturally, if the work flows, we assume it could be better. We assume we're missing something.
Now, this conversation is genuinely nuanced. Suffering exists. Some of the most powerful, world-changing art has come out of real pain, and channelling anger, grief, or frustration into your craft takes real emotional courage.
I'm not saying suffering has no place in creativity. That would be reductive, and honestly, disrespectful to the artists who've lived through it.
But there's a difference between creating while suffering and creating in order to suffer. Those artists weren't choosing suffering as a creative strategy. They were living through their own realities, their own histories, moments where everything certain was being shaken apart.
At some point, we have to start understanding creativity as a muscle, not a rare lightning bolt that only strikes when your life is falling apart. It's something you train. Something you strengthen over time. It's a lot closer to going to the gym than we like to admit: you show up, you practice, you build capacity for it.
So do you need to suffer to make powerful work? Nope.
But you might need to let go of the version of yourself that believes you do.
—
✦ Listen to “What The Art World Taught Me About Branding” for more Fine-Arts lore
✦ “BIG MAGIC: Creative Living Beyond Fear”, by Elizabeth Gilbert
✦ Feature image by João Rebelo (2018)
✦ Say hey on Instagram
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Over the last 5 years as a Brand & Marketing Designer, I’ve helped freaks like us design their unconventional brands so they can step onto the main stage & own their weird. Because if you wanted to be, look or sound like everyone else, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Now it’s your turn.
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