It’s Never Too Late to Find Creative Success
Artists who didn’t give up and achieved later in life
As a culture, we tend to cherish the new. We prize the “overnight success”, the gleaming promise offered by fresh talent and untarnished creativity.
In art, this tendency is compounded by the centuries-old stereotype of great artists having a predestined pathway. As far back as the Greeks, stories have been told of the child prodigy whose innate abilities were recognised in juvenescence. The flare of youthful achievement has always been irresistible.
Unfortunately, these cultural caricatures have the effect of persuading some people that, when it comes to creativity, they may have missed the boat.
But this is nonsense.
When you delve into the lives of creatives from history and today, a clear pattern emerges: many artists achieve success only after the dawn and dusk of youth, proving that creative success can happen at any age…
Artists who claimed success later in life
It’s worth recalling that Edward Hopper didn’t sell his first artwork — titled Sailing (1911) — until he was aged 31.
This relatively late arrival onto the scene seems to align with Hopper’s gradual artistic…
