Each has its own peculiarities and its own particular way of doing things. Some need absolute silence to work; others need a flawless black coffee at 9 a. m. Some need a little color on the wall and some need a window to concentrate.
The great geniuses of history also had their own eccentricities. This is revealed by Mason Currey in his book, “Daily Rituals”. How do artists work?, recently published by Turner. Il tells us episodes of the daily life of great men and remembers us that we are all human, very human.
- Currey speaks.
- For example.
- Of a long list of bright men who are alcohol fanatics; Francis Bacon.
- For example.
- Drank six bottles of wine a day.
- Spent trouble-free nights and ate more than he should.
- Or stimulants with his drink and once said.
- “I often like to work with a hangover.
- My mind is full of energy and I can think much more clearly.
- “Hemingway didn’t stay behind.
- His alcohol consumption has always been memorable.
- Yet every day he would get up and write like nothing.
- Like to place the typewriter on a pulpit that reached his chest and wrote standing.
Tolouse-Lautrec always drank alcohol and almost never slept, in your case it is understandable, since he lived in cabarets, perhaps that is why his existence has been limited to only 36 years, James Joyce was also model of order All backwards. In addition to living drunk, he has gone through serious economic problems; It took him seven years to complete his greatest work: Ulysses. He did it by overcoming eight diseases and moving 19 times.
Marcel Proust, Nobel Prize in Literature and author of “To” Seek Lost Time,” was full of compulsions. It took him a lifetime to write his great novel. He spent all his time in an apartment in Paris, in the middle of a cork-clad room for greater waterproofness. He drank only two lattes and two croissants a day, although sometimes he allowed a copious dinner in the city’s restaurants. He used opium and caffeine pills to be more alert, and took sleeping pills.
Proust wrote much of his work in bed, as did Truman Capote, who fearlessly stated that he “couldn’t think unless he was lying down. “The same was done with Descartes, who pursued many of his reflections from his bed of rest. .
There are many great geniuses with serious insomnia problems and a strong taste for night work. Among these famous night owls is Pablo Picasso who, all his life, went to bed late and got up at noon or more.
Beethoven was compulsive with cleanliness. He developed complicated ablutions, using so much water that it leaked into the lower floors, with this he managed to annoy more than one caregiver.
These are just a few examples of the peculiarities that we all have, but that in the life of geniuses arouse greater interest
Image courtesy of Emilio Garassino.