7 Great Names of World Art and Their Other Little Known (and Even Obscure) Sides

Alexander Pushkin, one of the greatest Russian poets of all time, once wrote: “Genius and wickedness — two incompatible things”. However, many disagree and are even willing to prove this great writer wrong. If we consider the great artists featured in this post, certainly Pushkin made a mistake in his statement. For example, did you know that all the girls in Moscow avoided and were even afraid of Isaak Levitan, one of the greatest painters in history, and that fellow painter Caravaggio would not run away from a fight? Great masters of painting and their dark and little-known sides are the subject of this post.

we, from awesome.club, we’ve studied the biographies of some of the biggest names in the arts and are ready to share with you the most controversial facts about their lives. Follow up!

Dalí, considered by many to be the king of eccentricity, always knew how to attract attention to himself. He has taught lessons in a wetsuit, walked an anteater, and promised to bury his body under the floor of his theater-museum. His life’s main passion was his wife and muse Gala (Elena Diakonova)🇧🇷 Dalí once wrote: “I love Gala more than I love my mother, my father, more than Picasso and even more than money.”

Dalí’s contemporaries claimed that he gave the impression of being an impeccable and modern person. The painter broke off his relations with his family, as his parents did not approve of his passion and considered Gala a woman of ordinary feelings. The conflict with his family reached such a level that Dalí’s father removed the painter’s name from his will. And in protest, the painting genius shaved his head and buried his hair on the beach.

In 1980, Dalí was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The painter began to attack Gala frequently. He yelled at her, threw objects at her, raised her hand and even broke 2 of her ribs.🇧🇷 To calm her husband, Gala gave him psychotropic drugs.

After the death of his wife, the friends decided to put Dalí in a clinic. There he refused to eat, became aggressive, spat at the nurses and even tried to scratch their faces.

French impressionist Claude Monet decided to become an artist against his father’s wishes. Monet did not like to study and during classes he preferred to spend his time drawing caricatures in the margins of his notebook. This entertainment turned out to be a source of income. At age 15, Monet began selling his paintings at the local art fair and quickly became a celebrity.🇧🇷 In this way the young man managed to collect 2,000 francs, which he invested in his studies of art.

Like all geniuses, Monet had his own dose of weirdness. He almost couldn’t make ends meet and lived in debt. When creditors tried to pawn his paintings, the painter could think of nothing better than to burn the entire work.

Monet was an incredibly stubborn man. Once, in February, he began to draw a landscape in which there was an old oak tree, but he quickly decided to abandon the work. It wasn’t until May that he decided to resume work. Nonetheless, was furious — the oak was already full of green leaves — spring in the northern hemisphere🇧🇷 For a long time he couldn’t solve this problem, until he made a decision. He spent a few days plucking the leaves from the tree, until it resumed its previous winter appearance.

Everyone already knows the story of how Van Gogh cut off his own ear. After a fight with Paul Gauguin, the Dutch master cut off his earlobe with a razor, put it in an envelope and gave it to a prostitute as a souvenir. His friends said the painter had bouts of aggression🇧🇷 Van Gogh even managed to spoil his relationship with the only person who remained close to him—his brother. The artist lived in solitude, avoided people, abused unhealthy habits and exaggerated in alcohol consumption.

But despite his temperamental and solitary character, Van Gogh loved humanity. He once wrote to his brother: “There is nothing more truly artistic than loving people”🇧🇷 He worked hard and for long periods and still had to put up with the scorn of everyone around him. Many people avoided him, considering him eccentric and weird.

A lover of Russian nature, landscape painter Isaak Levitan was a man of purpose. From a poor family, his father was a rabbi who was forced to abandon his religious practice in order to somehow feed his wife and children. To pay for art school and help his parents, Levitan had to work hard.🇧🇷 He painted custom illustrations and paintings to sell.

The young and handsome Levitan did not go unnoticed by women, and the painter himself was reputed to be charming and passionate. His attraction to ladies quickly became the subject of gossip. Levitan even shot himself over a woman. He also chased his loved ones all over Moscow and even publicly kneeled to please the ladies, as well as starring in public scenes of jealousy.🇧🇷 The women were so afraid of being the object of the painter’s constant attention that they tried to avoid him. Even the sister of the famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov, Maria Chekhova, ended up being the target of the artist’s passions.

Renaissance artists were not immune to eccentricities either. Caravaggio drove the whole of Italy mad with his unorthodox shenanigans. Founder of realism in art, Michelangelo Merisi (that was his given name) was an innovative painter. He portrayed the common people he saw in the crowds on the streets: boys, gypsies and street vendors. The artist tried to represent in the image an almost documentary accuracy, which did not please his contemporaries at all.🇧🇷 To depict Lazarus in his painting The Resurrection of Lazarushe hired some people to dig the grave of a newly buried young man and hold his body in a certain way until he finished drawing the sketches.

Caravaggio was famous for his temperamental character. Once, during a fight over a card game, he hit his opponent so hard that he simply killed him. As a result, he was forced to flee from justice for a long time.🇧🇷 The artist’s second victim was the young Ranuccio Tommasoni, who was seriously injured after a fight with Caravaggio. Pope Paul V even offered a prize for the painter’s head.

Paul Gauguin was a successful stockbroker and an exemplary family man. He married the Danish Mette Sophie Gad, with whom he had 4 children. Nonetheless, Gauguin did not get along very well with his eldest son, Émile🇧🇷 And when the Paris stock market crashed, his family ended up without the means to pay for housing and food.

Tired of the lack of money, Gauguin abandoned his family and went to live in Panama, later moving to Tahiti. There, he ended up marrying local Paura Tai. While the painter was well past his 40s, Paura was just 14🇧🇷 She gave birth to two children by the artist.

One of the most striking features of Gauguin’s personality was his arrogance. The artist was always certain of his superior wisdom. People close to him considered him a narcissist. Perhaps this characteristic of his helped him not to be discouraged in the moments of greatest poverty and in which he was seriously ill.

Russian painter Ilya Repin was adept at healthy living. He preferred to sleep outdoors and did not consume meat.🇧🇷 Other than that, he sought to help the poor and needy, even saving the renowned writer Mayakovsky from death by starvation.

Repin’s excessive avarice and frugality towards himself shocked everyone. He woke up very early to go to work, because in the morning the tram ticket cost half the amount charged in the afternoon. And when his daughter Vera needed massage therapy, the artist suggested that she memorize everything the masseuse did, so that she could later reproduce it on herself at home.🇧🇷 without further sessions being necessary🇧🇷

And not even at home the artist allowed himself to have some “pampering”. Salmon, chocolate, oranges and various other foods and treats were considered an excessive luxury that should be avoided. Repin asked that his table be served boiled potatoes, cucumbers and lentil soup. Because of this, the artist’s friends joked that he ate hay soup for lunch.

Did you know this other side of these great names in painting? Do you believe that these behaviors can somehow tarnish the reputation of their careers? Tell us in the comments section.