These writers, musicians, and painters created masterpieces in the realms of literature, music, and art. At different stages of their lives, every person on this list suffered from severe hardships, mental illness and feelings of loneliness and despair. All of them suffered for their art in order to create legacies of great imagination and epic beauty.
5. George Orwell, Author
I believe George Orwell is the most brilliant and prescient writer who has ever lived. No other author has ever taught me more about human nature and reality. 1984 was a true masterpiece, a flawless indictment of mob mentality, power, politics, and human frailty. Even the doomed romance depicted in the book was wrenching and impossible to forget.
This visionary writer was born Eric Arthur Blair, in British India, in late June of 1903. His family was relatively well-to-do, and in time they returned to England, where young Eric attended Eton College. He went on to become an Indian Imperial Policeman in Burma in 1922.
By 1927, Eric Blair was back in the UK and installed in rooms in London, where he began to study the lower classes and the seamy underbelly of society. In 1928, he moved to Paris and suffered illness and robberies that left him weak and destitute. He washed dishes and scrounged out an existence, building the base for another great Orwell work, the autobiographical Down And Out In Paris And London.
Eric Blair always saw himself as an outsider and an observer. His personal depression and misery are omnipresent in his work. In his essay, “Why I Write”, he points to a lifetime of unpopularity, insecurity, and longing for a father he never saw after the age of eight. From Eric Arthur Blair’s loneliness and despair bloomed the staggering depth, vision and truth of George Orwell.
4. Tennessee Williams, Playwright
This legendary American playwright was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26th, 1911. He changed his first name to Tennessee in honor of his father’s home state. A frail child, he spent most of his time battling diphtheria and being derided by his own father, who saw him as a weakling and sissy.
On his father’s side of the family, tempers ran hot and spirits were high. On his mother’s side, strict religious principles were held in high esteem. This conflict in morality and values appeared in all his published works, lending him a unique voice.
His sister Rose suffered from schizophrenia and underwent a prefrontal lobe lobotomy. Tennessee Williams also suffered from the ill effects of repressing his homosexuality. He remained in the closet until 1970. Addictions, depression and dark violence were omnipresent in his work and in his own life. By 1969, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie suffered a complete mental and physical breakdown: he died 8 years later.
3. Ludwig Van Beethoven, Musician
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, in 1770. His father taught him music from an early age. By the age of nine, his talent was already undisputed. His ambitious father lauded him as a child prodigy.
In 1787 Beethoven journeyed to Vienna, in the hopes of learning from Mozart himself. However, his mother grew terribly ill, and later died. Ludwig returned from Vienna to be with her before her death. In time, he caught the interest of a rich Count who became his patron. He composed and played in the orchestra at Court.
Beethoven combined performances, composing, and orchestra work to earn a living, and he did very well due to his signature sforzando style. But there was tragedy in the distance. Beethoven, with his many gifts and his virtuoso skills, was doomed to lose his hearing in the prime of his life.
The reasons for his encroaching deafness were uncertain. Terrible ringing in the ears and loss of hearing worsened over time. The master musician who lived to create musical beauty was robbed of his ability to understand his own creations.
And still he played…even when the cheers of the audience could be seen and not heard…even when he would cry as he turned from his piano and watched them applaud. The prison of silence Beethoven endured makes him a tortured artist through no fault of his own. It is believed that high levels of lead in Beethoven’s body may have contributed to his deafness.
2. Ernest Hemingway, Author
Born in 1899, Ernest Hemingway earned Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes for his understated writing, which included The Old Man And The Sea. His domineering mother has a great impact on him as a child, pushing music on him at an early age because she taught music and once dreamed of being an opera singer. Hemingway resisted her influence, instead choosing traditionally male activities such as fishing and outdoor pursuits.
Hemingway tried to enlist for battle in WWI, but his vision was poor and he was not able to pass the physical exam. Instead, he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. He was close to combat on the Italian front, witnessing death and destruction. The experiences changed him and haunted him.
Upon his return to North America, Hemingway dealt with heartbreak from a failed relationship. He sought work as a journalist, wrote extensively, and experienced many adventures all over the world. It is believed that Hemingway suffered from manic depression, which caused him to spiral downward in his later years. His gruesome suicide in 1961 was the result of a self-inflicted, double-barreled gunshot wound to the forehead.
1. Vincent van Gogh, Artist
This Dutch master used color to express a prism of emotions. His work seems to vibrate with life and energy. The beauty and the mysterious, transcendent elements in his paintings make them hypnotic and unforgettable.
Vincent was born in 1853, in the Netherlands. He was shy, emotional child who battled low self-esteem. He was also tortured by epilepsy, which was believed to be the result of a brain lesion that was present since birth. Some of the drugs van Gogh was given to combat his epilepsy were thought to change his visual perception, and many historians feel that this altered vision of the world may have influenced his unique style.
The sense of torment and misery that appeared in many of van Gogh’s works were a harbinger of his eventual suicide. The paintings themselves seem to roil with dark emotions and turmoil. van Gogh had suffered from severe depression all of his life. When he was 37, he walked out into a field and fired a revolver at his own chest. Two days later, he succumbed to his injuries, at home in his bedroomto view the complete list please visit
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