It's no secret that drugs and alcohol influence thinking in ways that can generate thoughts and ideas that you wouldn't normally have.
Some even suggest that the substances unblock a part of consciousness that is normally suppressed. In fact, some of the greatest visual artists in history have created well-known masterpieces under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
But while history has seen astonishing inspiration from recreational drug use, there is an equal, if not greater, amount of tragedy that often happens to the tortured artist.
Like many who suffer from substance use disorders, some of the world's greatest artists have tragically struggled with mental illness and health problems that lead to drug and alcohol use.
Notwithstanding the legacy of these artists, whose careers were shaped by addiction, whether drawn in short, quick lines or drawn as long, tortured brush strokes, it doesn't have to be how they died.
The beauty and inspiration they created serves as hope for those facing similar problems.
1. Andy Warhol
When we think Andy Warhol, We often remember his Campbell's soup cans or the video of him slowly eating a Burger King. However, Warhol had serious problems with food and was known to be very self-conscious about his appearance, sometimes very obsessively.
Despite being lean throughout his life, Warhol felt he needed to supplement his dietary habits by taking Obetrol, a drug used to aid in diet and stay awake, which is also an amphetamine, which is chemically related to MDMA or MDMA. ecstasy.
Warhol's work came to light during an era of pop culture craze and experimental drug use. And yet some of your most treasured pieces were created before your daily use of Obetrol and other medications.
Source: Phaidon
2.Mark Rothko
Many abstract expressionists battled alcoholism and depression, and the case of mark rothko, who enjoyed great artistic acceptance since 1947, although also since then, suffered depressions and addiction alcohol.
This is reflected in his paintings, where the color palette became darker, yet his international reputation continued to grow steadily. A retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1961 was the latest advancement in his success.
His artwork reflects lively emotions. The wispy geometric patterns are offset by softened organic edges, highlighting the layers of human consciousness and the space within the mind.
Towards the end of his life, Rothko took Sinequan and Valium along with a number of other substances to treat high blood pressure, gout, anxiety, and depression. The son of a pharmacist and the subject of debate among his own doctors, Rothko was overtaken by the very substances designed to cure him.
In February 1970, he committed suicide by overdosing on antidepressants and cutting his arm with a razor. He was 66 years old.
3. Edvard Munch
Edward Munch, Norway's most famous painter, born in 1863, knew alcohol before the age of 16, both as medicine and for pleasure.
His father, who was a military doctor and a strictly religious man, used to prescribe a good glass of port to regain strength after an illness. On special occasions, the Munch family enjoyed strikeouts or sherry, and when young Edvard joined his father in military camps during the summer, they often served wine at dinner.
From an early age, he struggled with depression, the anxiety that was beginning to generate his dependence on alcohol, and a possible bipolar disorder; Furthermore, he suffered several major tragedies at an early age, as his mother and sister died of tuberculosis when he was 5 and 14 years old, respectively. Another brother died shortly after getting married and another sister struggled with mental illness.
These traumas clearly affected the dark themes of his work during his best-known artistic period, with his emaciated and death-stained figures. Somehow, amid intense sadness and death, his own struggles with mental illness and alcoholism, Munch managed to overcome his demons with some fame as a long-lived artist, even managing to defy the fall of the Nazi curtain.
Source: Submerged Letters
4.Damien Hirst
It is not surprising that Damien Hirst, one of the main artists of the YBA (Young British Artists) movement has had some encounters with drugs in his formative years.
The YBA (Young British Artists) they were known for their ties to popular culture and celebrities. Specifically, at a time when cocaine and ecstasy were particularly popular party drugs in the UK.
Hirst is very familiar with the power that drugs have on the human body, saying, “I never really had the desire to do anything other than get completely out of my mind. I loved it, but it's too painful for the body. "
He often turned into a "babble" after consuming copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol during his days as the rowdy working-class boy from Brit-Art in Leeds. Although many critics dislike his gruesome and crude works, for many it represented a new kind of art.
The notable artist has been sober for over 15 years, which is why some of his most famous works, including the famous diamond skull, have been made since he got rid of the most hedonistic of his hedonistic tendencies.
In our gallery, located in the cover image of our note, you can find a gallery with other artists who fell into excess.