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Some of the most renowned Renaissance artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, were in the habit of buying grave-robbed bodies to study the human form.
When they weren’t studying corpses, Renaissance artists would search for models they could draw from life. In those times female modesty was highly valued so it was difficult to find female models who would pose without clothes. Artists often drew the bodies of young men instead, and added in female features.
This has always been particularly telling in the work of Michelangelo. Many say his women look like particularly muscular men.
Surrealism emerged in the early 19th century. The surrealists rebeled against rationality and societal constraints. They were heavily influenced by the theories of Freud and Jung, and aimed to access the unconscious.
Surrealists were deeply intrigued by dreams and the way they tap into the unconscious mind.
Salvador Dali used to sit in his warm sunny garden after lunch, the perfect time for a nap. He would put a metal bowl in his lap, and hold a spoon with his arm across his chest. As he drifted into sleep his arm would fall and the spoon would bang against the bowl, waking him up.
He did this repeatedly keeping himself in a constant state between sleep and consciousness. He would record the ideas and snippets of dreams that came to him in those moments as inspiration for his paintings. Methods like this were known as "automatism."
Austin Osman Spare was another artist who practiced forms of automatism, but he was aiming to tap into something a little darker.
The artist was a well-known occultist in the 20th century. He associated himself with Aleister Crowley but is said to have disapproved of Crowley’s ceremonial black magic.
Spare practiced his own form of ritual. He is said to have "self-hypnotized" in front of his canvas, connecting to dark forces and working in a trance. He would awaken hours later with magnificent and terrifying scenes before him.
Vincent Castiglia draws nightmarish scenes exclusively in human blood. This reportedly almost cost him his life when in his early experiments he withdrew too much blood, which landed him in the hospital with a collapsed lung.
Millie Brown is a British performance artist who is best known for her "vomit art." She fasts for several days to empty her stomach, then drinks bottles of milk that have been dyed with food coloring. She then proceeds to throw up the colored milk onto her canvas.
In her collaboration with Lady Gaga, she vomited onto the singer during a live performance at SXSW. Pictured is Lady Gaga covered in the remains of the milk paint.
In 2010, artist Su-Hui Yu performed an exhibition called “Stilnox Strolling” at the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art. He gave sleeping pills (later revealed to be placebos) to the audience members and asked them to describe the effects.
Yayoi Kusama was a contemporary of Andy Warhol and was creating art at the height of the Swinging Sixties. Much of her work has a dreamy psychedelic quality, based on experiences with LSD. Pictured is one of her kaleidoscopic mirror rooms.
The world’s most famous performance artist Marina Abramovic has also used substances as part of her work. In the performance ‘Rhythm 2’ she took a substance used to treat catatonia, which left her spasming and unable to control her body. When the effects wore off she took another substance used to treat violent behavioral disorders. She became despondent and unmoving for the rest of the performance, and afterward said she couldn't remember that period.
In one of her most shocking performances, 'Rhythm 0,' Abramovic invited an audience to do anything they wanted to her with a range of objects provided. The objects included scissors, an axe, chains, and a loaded gun.
Andy Warhol is known to have a fascination with everyday objects, such as his famous brillo boxes. A lesser known fact about the artist is that he was a meticulous hoarder of such objects. He amassed a collection of artefacts that filled more than 600 boxes by the time of his death.
Danish artist Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen creates paintings using her head as the brush. She dips her hair in paint and drags it across a large canvas. She is pictured here in her exhibition called Re-inventing Domesticity and the Decomposing of the Self.
Alexa Meade is known for turning painting into a 3D art form. She paints people and objects in three-dimensional spaces, creating an interesting juxtaposition between art and reality. She collaborated with Ariana Grande, painting her body for the ‘God is a Woman’ video released in 2018.
An Australian artist is making a name for himself, literally: Pricasso. He is known for using an appendage other than his hands to paint...
The artist Omar Hassan creates his works by dipping his boxing gloves into different color paints and punching them onto the canvas, creating abstract splatters.
Italian artist Maurizio Savini creates incredible, brightly colored sculptures using gum. Pictured here is the President of Lazio beside a bubble gum statue of a she-wolf, representative of Rome.
Princess Tarinan von Anhalt creates abstract art by setting up a large canvas behind the jet engine of a plane and throwing buckets of paint in front of the powerful blast from the engine. She calls this "jet art."
The famous artist Francis Bacon used to drink and socialize late into the night and then wake up early to begin painting in his chaotic studio. He said that he liked working with a hangover because he felt his mind was crackling with energy.
Gilbert and George are a pair of artists who work together to create art, but also turn their lives into a form of performance art. They adopt a particular persona and appearance whenever they're seen in public. They have been referred to as "living sculptures," and have kept their act going for 50 years.
Sources: (The Art/Crime Archive, Park West Gallery, Observer, Su-Hui Yu's website , CNN, IMMA, Guggenheim, AnOther, Sweetie High, Air & Space, BBC)
See also: Stars who took method acting to extremes
Henri Michaux (pictured) was a poet and artist who experimented with mescaline in his creative process. He reportedly took the substance and completed a series of drawings while under the influence, which he would later use as inspiration for his paintings.
The 'Exquisite Corpse' is a game used by surrealists. A piece of paper is passed around, each person adding a drawing and then folding the page to conceal it. At the end the page is unfolded and the culmination of each artist's drawing is revealed. It's a way of combining the subconscious of multiple artists into one piece.
The creative genius has always been a source of wonder. In the past, exceptional talent and inspiration were thought to be of divine origin—or in some cases, satanic origin. As modern psychology was born, the focus shifted from the spiritual realm to the unexplored corners of the human mind. The greatest artists have always looked beyond their own consciousness or gone further than their contemporaries to find true innovation. Click through the gallery to see how these artists gained their notoriety.
The strange methods of history's most eccentric artists
Channeling demons, blood as a medium, and psychedelic substances
LIFESTYLE Art
The creative genius has always been a source of wonder. In the past, exceptional talent and inspiration were thought to be of divine origin—or in some cases, satanic origin. As modern psychology was born, the focus shifted from the spiritual realm to the unexplored corners of the human mind. The greatest artists have always looked beyond their own consciousness or gone further than their contemporaries to find true innovation. Click through the gallery to see how these artists gained their notoriety.