Picasso's Brain: The basis of creative genius

by Christine Temple

Where does creativity come from? Why are some people more creative than others?
Eminent neuropsychologist Christine Temple navigates a wide range of factors from the hard science (visual memory, spatial ability, brain functions) to the environmental (the 'mad genius' myth, and Gladwell's 10,000 hours of practice) in her study of what contributes to creativity.
Using Pablo Picasso as her model of a creative genius, she weighs up each theory as it applies to Picasso and shows how his own creativity came from a combination of many factors.
In this book, she looks at Picasso's playful mindset and passionate relationships, investigates the possibility that genius is genetic and can be inherited in families, considers whether creative genii perceive the world in a different way, and determines whether single-mindedness and focus play a part. This is the first book to look at a multitude of traits in creativity, and nail down the key factors that matter (and also which ones don't) to provide an overall picture of this fascinating area, linking the science to the personal.

Genres: Psychology

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 8, 2016

Reviews

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting thoughts and insights. It is a rather generic read and I think some further reading would be necessary to go deeper into the subject and convince me of some of her statements. It's difficult to judge and interpret Picasso's brain without any scans, tests or even talking to him personally, so quite some liberty has been taken there, but that issue is clearly acknowledged in the book.

[Adina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take Picasso’s biography, add some other cases of creative geniuses, sprinkle knowledge from behavioral psychology and genetics, and you get this book. Considering that I don’t usually read about art critique and my psychology book list is not extensive, I found Christine Temple’s book quite interesting. The big question she explores is “What makes a creative genius? Is it genes, is it neurological disorders, is it environment?”. A bit of all. Christine argues that a child needs to be predisposed to a certain creative direction, but then the environment has to expose and enhance that predisposition. Picasso was born into a long generation of artists - all very talented, but only he displayed the creative genius. If he were to be born into a family of merchants, for example, Picasso probably would not have had the time or support to hone his art to genius levels. Practice is also very important and Picasso did work hard to improve on his skills. As Christine says, “practice may be necessary for genius but it is not sufficient for genius.”

Finally, I read this book in memoriam of Christine and Alex, whose creative work was cut too short.

[Forsythia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picasso's brain was a gift that my parents brought me back from Barcelona, from the museum where Picasso's work is exhibited. They learned so much for his life so they wanted to share this knowledge with me.

This book isn't only about the art of Picasso (which alone it fascinates me- Not particularly Picasso's, but I have a deep love for artistic creations) but mainly about the ways his mind functioned and everything that may had led him to the expression of his artistic genius. The neurologic pathways, explained with simple anatomical and physiological words so that anyone can understand them, the role of genes and environmental support on the genesis of the creative mind, the influence of the social environment, all pushed me to innovative thinking and made me write some of my own ideas on the inner covers of the book.

Although I don't consider this book a scientific masterpiece, the explanations are enough to satisfy every reader who likes art, medicine, biographies or history, even in the difficult hours of sleepiness.