The true artist leads the way because he is the risk taker who casts the light onto the darkness. There is a price to pay for leadership. When the battle is about to begin, any weakness in their field general is the last thing the enlisted men need to see.

To command, you rise above your thoughts and feelings of self-doubt and fear. With your strength to persevere you inspire others to have the courage to engage and rout the enemy—the negative invader—in whatever form they may assume, including the rejection of your work.

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Here is an excerpt from a letter dated September 17, 1882—from 29-year old Vincent van Gogh to his younger brother Theo, an art dealer. Vincent was lucid in both his art and writing. His many letters (a good deal of them to his brother) portray a young man in touch with his circumstances.

Am rather short of colours and other things, but you know how it is—I can vary my work in different ways, and there are always so many things to draw. For the group of figures in the enclosed sketch varies infinitely and requires innumerable separate studies and sketches of each figure, which one must catch quickly in the street. In this way it gradually gets character and vigour.

Recently I made a study of ladies and gentlemen on the beach, a hustling crowd of people. Sooner or later, after some more study, I should love to do drawings for illustrations. Perhaps one thing will result from the other. The main thing is to continue working.

I certainly hope you are well, and that you will write me about yourself and the things which strike you in your surroundings. Adieu, with a handshake.

Yours sincerely,

Vincent

When was the last time you had an unbiased experience, an original thought or a pure feeling?

Social conditioning is so powerful, we can become unaware that this tireless agent of cultural conformity exists—which is its insidious nature. If you can draw upon your childhood, you might recall there was a time when anything was possible, nothing was tainted, and the world was born anew each day. This is also the state of the true artist who dances to his own music; he has overcome the pitfalls and limitations of growing up; he has built up an immunity to the cries and whispers of discontent.

If you feel and think in cliches, how can you do original work?

It was more than twenty years ago.

My dear mother, Adele, was excited. We were at the Hollywood Bowl on a cool Los Angeles evening. Leonard Bernstein was giving a concert. The Bowl was nearly packed. People had brought wine and food for a night under the stars, and a few managed to twinkle through the dissipated haze.

The show began. Lots of applause. Adele and I were ready. We were sitting on a blanket high up on the hill. Then, instead of any familiar compositions, Bernstein confronted the audience with a variety of dissonant sounds. Popular scores from Westside Story would not play out this evening. 

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The subject of art school came up again.

Art school can teach art history, materials, and technique. Art school cannot instruct you on how to be an artist for one simple reason. No one can teach you to be original.

This is easy to understand yet for many, difficult to believe.