Sex and Creativity

I found Hughes connection between sex and creativity in chapter 10 to be extremely interesting. I look at artists such as Frida Kahlo or Artemisia Gentileschi and wonder if Frida had not had such a turbulent and torturous relationship with Diego Rivera or if Artemisia had not been raped by her father's apprentice, would they have been able to tap so deeply into their creativity? I find it rather disturbing that so many artists have use and continue to use "aggressive possession" and/or sadomasochism as such a powerful influence in their art, but I am still compelled to look and admire it. For instance the painting "Judith Slaying Holofernes" is rather disturbing, not just because they are chopping of the Holofernes head, but more because of the pure determination and will of the slayers.

I thought the book's insights on muses, icons and sex goddesses to be sad but necessary forms of inspiration in the creative process for many. It is unfortunate that we hold beautiful people in such high esteem, yet even higher when their lives take a pitiful and grim turn for the worse. We see it time and time again. The book uses Marilyn Monroe and Diana, Princess of Wales as examples, but in more recent times we have newer and more screwed up models in the form of dare I say, modern day icons, such as Lindsey Lohan and Brittney Spears. I just hope that their tragic tales do not become a source of inspiration for modern day artists and they slowly dissipate into obscurity, because there would be nothing more frightening than to open a textbook 12 or 20 years from now and have them mentioned as muses or icons.