Genius: Vincent Van Gogh And Kanye West

Immanuel Kant presented us with the idea that only a genius can produce fine art. Fine art is a mode of representation that is created for intellectual and aesthetic purposes, and has the capacity to advance the culture of the mental powers of society. There are four qualities that an artist must have present in their work in order for them to be considered a genius. First, the artist must have a talent. The artist must produce something in which no definite rule can be given and their work must be original. The artist must also have this talent naturally without having learned it from somewhere outside of themselves. The second quality that an artist must have to be considered a genius is that their work must be exemplary. Their work must …show more content…
Therefore, nature must be the focal point of the artist work. There are many artist who people believe to be genius, but if their artist doesn’t consist of these four qualities then they cannot be considered a genius and their art can not be considered fine art. The two artist that I will be analyzing through Kant’s frame work are Vincent Van Gogh and Kanye West. Vincent Van Gogh is considered to be one of the best artist of all time, but is he a genius? Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. Van Gogh was a post-impressionist painter whose work, famous for its splendor, emotion and color, left a huge impact on 20th century art. He struggled with depression, paralyzing anxiety and, according to some records, he had symptoms of bipolar disorder. He lived as a peasant and virtually unknown throughout his life. Van Gogh committed suicide in France on July 29, 1890, at age 37. He was a troubled soul, but he did produce astounding works of art. Van Gogh did possess a talent and produce work in which no definite rule could be given. Although he had a lot of practice drawing and painting, he never had any traditional training. He did however use a self-teaching manuals to aid him in his …show more content…
We cannot consider West a genius, nor his music fine art. When we view the life and work of Van Gogh, we see that all his work was original, exemplary, unexplained, and nature prescribed the rule. He has all of the characteristics to be considered a genius, it is unfortunate that he didn’t live long enough to experience just how impactful his work truly was. West on the other hand has three of the four characteristics. He possess the talent, his work is exemplary, and his creativity is unexplained, what he lacks is nature prescribing the rule. It is unfortunate that West is nearly a genius, but because nature does not prescribe the rule, we cannot call him a genius. It isn’t too late, maybe one day nature will prescribe the rule and we can give West the genius credit that he is so close to