It is an interesting thought that all artists were "tortured" in some way. I wish I had time to research this -- perhaps someone already has. But I don't necessarily think it is true that we have to "suffer" for our art. I don't know whether the balance hangs with those who "suffer" in Dostoyevskian tragedy, or those who don't, but here are at least a few instances of those who, at least in my impression of them, don't fill the bill of bringing beauty/art out of misery.

** Georges Sand. She raised a number of kids (3 or 4), nursed Chopin as he died of tuberculosis, dressed as a man in the late 1800s so that she could attend Paris opera in the affordable SRO section, only available to men. She excused herself from evening converation around midnight and wrote til dawn. Admittedly, her melodramas have not the stood the test of time. She seems to be more famous as a woman who bucked tradition than as a "great artist." But she earned her living as a writer, and that's good enough for me.

** Jane Austin. Hmm, is it possible that women are more likely to stay balanced through the creative artistic experience than men? Probably because we don't think we have the right to take time off to nurture ourselves -- we gotta keep going.

Okay, then, how about . . .

** Salvador Dali. Okay, he was weird and eccentric. And exploited the heck out of it. But I've never had a sense that Dali was tortured -- I think he enjoyed being odd.

I'm not even sure that Picasso was tortured. A ladies man, yes. But I'm not sure if he was conflicted about it, or, if -- like oh so many males, especially those who consider themselves geniuses -- he thought sexual conquest was his birth right.

I don't think Matisse was particularly tortured or Chagall. Again, I'm no expert on the bios of these guys.

As for art, I prefer the exuberant stuff. Nothing like an afternoon of looking at the green dead bodies in Goya (which he did by studying corpses brought to him by grave robbers) to make me feel totally yucky. Give me some colorful Chagall from the circus series, or some technicolor Kandinksy anyday.

Heck, I'm not much on art anyway. The recent best-selling potboiler and some chocolate chip cookies affords escape from my depression for a little while.

Thank you for raising this interesting Q about the relationship between art and mental health, FriedGrey