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When Do Painters Make Their Best Work?

a
P. H. Franses
a
Erasmus School of Economics , The Netherlands
Published online: 14 Nov 2013.

To cite this article: P. H. Franses (2013) When Do Painters Make Their Best Work?, Creativity Research Journal, 25:4, 457-462,
DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2013.843912

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 CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL, 25(4), 457462, 2013
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1040-0419 print=1532-6934 online
DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2013.843912

RESEARCH NOTE

When Do Painters Make Their Best Work?

P. H. Franses
Erasmus School of Economics, The Netherlands

This Research Note proposes that modern art painters make their best works at the
optimal moment in their lives, a moment that could then be associated with the Divine
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proportion (the Fibonacci phi). An analysis of 189 highest-priced works by as many

modern art painters, comparing the moment of creation with their life span of these
artists, yielded the remarkable result that the estimated fraction is 0.6198, which indeed
is only 0.0018 away from the divine fraction.

The literature on the origins, drivers, and moderators of
creativity is very large. There are social aspects, psycho-
logical features, and, of course, a genetic dimension.
Part of that literature focuses on artists, in particular
painters. This Research Note also addresses this domain
of creativity.
Recently, the relevant literature has been enlarged by
investigations into the link between age, which often
boils down to timing, and creativity. For example,
Galenson (2009) distinguished between two types of
innovators, that is, those who ourish later in their lives,
because they needed more time due to trial and error,
and those who make sudden breakthroughs, quite often
at an early age. The time dimension can also be inter-
preted as period in history. For example, Hellmanzik
(2010) argued that creativity ourishes when similar
minds meet in the same period in the same location.
Galenson and Weinberg (2000) conrmed this by ana-
lyzing the birth rates of modern American painters
and by showing that there are periods in time with more
successful output than are other periods.
This Research Note adds a small piece of evidence on
the relation between age and creativity by examining the
relative age of an artist instead of the absolute age,
where relative age is dened as the age of the top cre-
ation divided by the total life span. Indeed, it is conceiv-
able that each human being has a moment in his or her
life when their creativity peaks. For scientists this may
Correspondence should be sent to P. H. Franses, Econometric
Institute, Erasmus School of Economics, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50,
3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: franses@ese.eur.nl
be around 2530, just after PhD graduation, but for
painters this may also be a moment in life relative to
the total amount of years that these people live. Hence,
it is conceivable that there is an optimum moment of
creativity in each persons life.
In various scientic disciplines, the construct optimum
is sometimes related to the so-called Fibonacci number
or the divine proportion, which is 0.6180 (at 4 decimals).
This Research Note explores the possibility that painters
make their best art at the 0.618 fraction of their lives.
This conjecture was tested with data from 189 painters.
DATA, ANALYSIS, AND CONCLUSION
The data collection method was rather straightforward.
Cumming (2005) included a complete list of artists who
worked between 1800 and 2004 (or there about). For
each of these artists, the most expensive painting was
identied and was taken as an indicator of peak creativ-
ity. Of course, many other measurements are possible,
but this seems to be the most objective one. Any missing
observations on the prices that are not in Cumming were
obtained from the Artprice.com# database.
Together, there is a sample that includes the most
expensive paintings for 221 famous painters. The Appen-
dix presents the data, including the name of the artist, the
name of the most expensive work, the year in which the
artist was born, when he or she died, and, most important,
the year in which the most expensive work was created.
On average, each painter was 41.92 years old when he
or she produced his or her most expensive (as per today)
 458 FRANSES

work. The youngest was 19 and the oldest 83 when they

reached this peak in their creativity. The average auction
price of the most expensive works is 5.2 million USD,
with a maximum of 93 million USD.
As indicated however, the most interesting number
concerns Age at which most expensive work was created
divided by year of death minus year of birth, where the
particular focus is on the average of these fractions. Out
of the 221 painters in the Appendix, 189 have died. The
statistics for these 189 are given in Figure 1. Quite strik-
ingly, the average fraction is 0.6198.
A further rened analysis of the data is inspired by the FIGURE 1 Statistics on the ratio of age of peak creativity and life
graph in Figure 1. It seems that the distribution is multi- span. (Color gure available online.)
modal, and thus the data might be described by a mixture
of normal distributions. Fitting mixtures with 2 to 5
separate distributions reveals that the data can well be REFERENCES
captured by a mixture of 4 normal distributions. The
Cumming, R. (2005). Eyewitness CompanionsArt. London, England:
associated probabilities are 0.268, 0.322, 0.200, and
Downloaded by [180.191.157.82] at 15:24 16 December 2013

Dorling Kindersley Limited.

0.210, and the means of these distributions are 0.380,
0.544, 0.746, and 0.922. The associated ranges of the ratio
data are [0, 0.455], [0.455, 0.656], [0.656, 0.826], and
[0.826, 1]. The means are located in these intervals with
fractions 0.552, 0.529, 0.443, and 0.835. The average
fraction is 0.590, which is just 0.028 away from 0.618.
This Research Note only considered modern art pain-
ters, and further research might concern various other
artists. And, such future research might examine the
age or timing of famous artists whose greatest works
were late in life, perhaps reecting the old-age style
(Lindauer 1992, 1993).
Galenson, D. W. (2009). Old masters and young geniuses: The two
life cycles of human creativity. Journal of Applied Economics, 12,
19.
Galenson, D. W., & Weinberg, B. A. (2000). Age and the quality of
work: The case of modern American painters. Journal of Political
Economy, 108, 761777.
Hellmanzik, C. (2010). Location matters: Estimating cluster premiums
for prominent modern artists. European Economic Review, 54,
199218.
Lindauer, M. S. (1992). Creativity in aging artists: Contributions from
the humanities to the psychology of old age. Creativity Research
Journal, 5, 211231.
Lindauer, M. S. (1993). The span of creativity among long-lived
historical artists. Creativity Research Journal, 6, 221238.
 WHEN DO PAINTERS MAKE THEIR BEST WORK? 459

APPENDIX: THE DATA

Painter Painting Born Deceased Painted

Note. Data source: Cumming (2005).

1 Francisco Goya Suerte de Varas 1746 1828 1824
2 Antoine-Jean Gros Napoleon a` Eylau 1771 1835 1808
3 Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson The Revolt at Cairo 1767 1824 1810
4 Ingres Jupiter and Thetis 1780 1867 1811
5 Euge`ne Delacroix Rencontre the cavalier maures 1798 1863 1834
6 Theodore Gericault Portrait of Laure Bro, born in Come`res 1791 1824 1819
7 Caspar David Friedrich Walk at dusk 1774 1840 1833
8 John Trumbull Portrait of John Adams 1756 1843 1797
9 Emmanuel Gottlieb Leutze General Ulysses S. Grant in his tent 1816 1868 1866
10 Edward Hicks Penns Treaty with the Indians 1780 1849 1847
11 John Varley Figures on the Shore with Bam burgh Castle, Northumberland 1778 1842 1808
12 John Constable The lock 1776 1837 1824
13 David Cox Crossing Lancaster Sands 1783 1859 1839
14 John Martin Pandemonium 1789 1854 1841
15 John Linnell Return of Ulysses 1792 1882 1848
16 Alexandre Cabanel Cleopatre essayant des poisons sur des condamnes a` mort 1823 1889 1887
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17 William-Adolphe Bouguereau La charite 1825 1905 1878

18 Franz Xavier Winterhalter Jeune lle de lAriccia 1805 1873 1838
19 Thomas Lawrence Portrait of the Prince Regent 1769 1830 1816
20 William Powell Frith For better, for worse 1819 1909 1881
21 Lord Frederic Leighton The bracelet 1830 1896 1890
22 Lawrence Alma-Tadema Mozes is found 1836 1912 1905
23 Luke Fildes The village wedding 1843 1927 1883
24 John Frederick Lewis Lilium Auratum 1805 1876 1871
25 Richard Dadd Contradiction, Oberon en Titania 1817 1886 1856
26 Frederic Edwin Church House by the lake 1826 1900 1852
27 Martin Johnson Heade Two ghting humming birds and two orchids 1819 1904 1885
28 Fitz Hugh Lane Harbor of Manchester 1804 1865 1853
29 Albert Bierstadt Yosemite Valley 1830 1902 1868
30 William Sidney Mount The trap sprung 1807 1868 1844
31 John Ruskin Bellinzona, Switzerland, looking North towards the St Gotthard Pass 1819 1900 1866
32 Ford Madox Brown Last of England 1821 1893 1855
33 William Holman Hunt The shadow of death 1827 1910 1869
34 Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones The prince enters the Briarwood 1833 1898 1869
35 Henri Fantin-Latour Bloemenboeket 1836 1904 1889
36 Carl Larsson Vid Kattegatt 1853 1919 1887
37 Euge`ne Boudin Sce`ne de plage 1824 1898 1865
38 Edouard Manet La rue Mosnier aux drapeaux 1832 1883 1878
39 Claude Monet Bassin aux nympheas et sentier au bord de leau 1840 1926 1900
40 Gustave Caillebotte Lhomme au balcon, boulevard Haussmann 1848 1894 1880
41 Berthe Morisot Cache-cache 1841 1895 1873
42 Camille Pissarro Les quatre saisons 1830 1903 1872
43 Alfred Sisley Un jardin a` Louveciennes, chemin de lEtarche 1839 1899 1873
44 Edgar Degas Danseuse aux repos 1834 1917 1879
45 Childe Hassam Flags, Afternoon on the avenue 1859 1935 1917
46 Mary Cassatt In a loge 1844 1926 1879
47 Julian Alden Weir Nassau, Bahamas 1852 1919 1913
48 Theodore Robinson Boats at a landing 1852 1896 1894
49 Georges Seurat Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 1859 1891 1885
50 Paul Signac Concarneau, calme du matin 1863 1935 1891
51 James Abbott McNeill Harmony in gray 1834 1903 1864
52 Gustave Moreau Le poe`te et la sire`ne 1826 1898 1893
53 Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Lenfance de Sainte Genevie`ve 1824 1898 1874
54 Arnold Bocklin Kentaurenkampf 1827 1901 1873
55 Thomas Wilmer Dewing The song 1851 1938 1891
56 Walter Richard Sickert Brighton Pierrots 1860 1942 1915
57 John Singer Sargent Group with Parasols 1856 1925 1905
58 Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida The bathing hour 1863 1923 1904

(Continued )
 460 FRANSES

Painter Painting Born Deceased Painted

59 Anders Zorn Les Baigneuses 1860 1920 1889

60 Paul Gauguin Maternite II 1848 1903 1899
61 Vincent van Gogh Portrait of Dr. Gachet 1853 1890 1890
62 Emile Bernard Madeleine au Boi DAmour 1868 1941 1892
63 Paul Serusier Deux lavandie`res au bord de la cascade 1863 1927 1890
64 Felix Vallotton Sur la plage 1865 1925 1899
65 Henri Rousseau Portrait van Joseph Brummer 1844 1910 1909
66 Paul Cezanne Rideau, cruchon et compotier 1839 1906 1894
67 Pierre Bonnard Matinee au Cannet 1867 1947 1932
68 Edouard Vuillard La table de toilette 1868 1940 1895
69 William Nicholson Le debut de la rue Montagne Sainte-Genevie`ve 1872 1949 1911
70 Ferdinand Hodler Silvaplanerlake 1858 1918 1907
71 Lovis Corinth Walchensee, Morning Fog 1858 1925 1924
72 Gustav Klimt Landhaus am Attersee 1862 1918 1914
73 Henri Matisse La robe persane 1869 1954 1940
74 Maurice De Vlaminck Les pecheurs a` Nanterre 1876 1958 1906
75 Albert Marquet Le carnaval a` Fecamp 1875 1947 1906
76 Andre Derain Bateaux dans le port, Collioure 1880 1954 1905
77 Georges Braque Femme lisant 1882 1963 1911
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78 Juan Gris Pot de geranium 1887 1927 1915

79 Fernand Leger La femme en rouge et vert 1881 1955 1914
80 Frank Kupka Contrastes gothiques 1871 1957 1920
81 Raoul Dufy Fete a Sainte-Adresse 1877 1953 1906
82 Kees van Dongen Femme fatale 1877 1968 1905
83 Robert Delaunay Premier Disque 1885 1941 1912
84 Marc Chagall Anniversaire 1887 1985 1923
85 Cham Soutine Le patissier de Cagnes 1894 1943 1923
86 Amedeo Modigliani Jeanne Hebuterne devant une porte 1884 1920 1919
87 Edvard Munch Haus in Aasgaardstrand 1863 1944 1905
88 Emil Nolde Blumengarten 1867 1956 1922
89 Otto Muller Zigeunerinnen am Lagerfeuer 1874 1930 1927
90 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Akte in der Sonne, Moritzburg 1880 1938 1910
91 Erich Heckel Dangast, dorfsgesicht 1883 1970 1909
92 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Die Lesende 1884 1976 1911
93 Wassily Kandinsky Fuga 1866 1944 1914
94 Gabriele Munter Kind mit Puppe 1877 1962 1909
95 Franz Marc Der Wasserfall: Frauen unter einem wasserfall 1880 1916 1912
96 August Macke Market in Tunis 1887 1914 1914
97 James Ensor Bons Juges 1860 1949 1891
98 Kathe Kollwitz Selfportrait 1867 1945 1910
99 Oskar Kokoschka Dresden Neustadt I 1886 1980 1919
100 Francis Picabia Little Udnie 1879 1953 1914
101 John Hearteld (Helmut Herzfelde) Family, Sunday walk 1891 1968 1920
102 Alexei von Jawlensky Schokko - Schokko mit Tellerhut 1864 1941 1910
103 Michael Larionov Lying nude 1881 1964 1900
104 Natalia Gontsjarova Bathing boys, simultaneous perception 1881 1962 1911
105 Kasimir Malevitsj Suprematic composition 1878 1935 1920
106 Alexander Rodtsjenko Line 1891 1956 1920
107 Giacomo Balla La scala degli addii - salutando 1871 1958 1908
108 Carlo Carra` Autunno, ritratto di Emilio Colombo 1881 1966 1909
109 Gino Severini Sea dancer 1883 1966 1913
110 (Percy) Windham Lewis Timon of Athens - The Thebaid 1882 1957 1912
111 Edward Wadsworth The Cattewater, Plymouth Sound 1889 1949 1920
112 David Bomberg San Miguel, Toledo, middag 1890 1957 1929
113 Augustus John Dorelia in a red dress 1878 1961 1906
114 Gwen John Sitting woman 1876 1939 1924
115 Robert Polhill Bevan Horse dealers at the Barbican 1865 1925 1918
116 Alfred Munnings The Red Prince Mare 1878 1959 1921
117 Mark Gertler Boxers 1891 1939 1918
118 Robert Henri Berna Escudero 1865 1929 1922
119 George Luks Knitters, High Bridge Park 1867 1933 1918

(Continued )
 WHEN DO PAINTERS MAKE THEIR BEST WORK? 461

Painter Painting Born Deceased Painted

120 John Sloan Eastereave 1871 1951 1907

121 George Wesley Bellows Polo crowd 1882 1925 1910
122 Marsden Hartley Painting Nr. 6 1877 1943 1913
123 Max Weber New York 1881 1961 1913
124 Patrick Henry Bruce Still life 1881 1937 1919
125 Stanton Macdonald-Wright Conception synchromy 1890 1973 1916
126 Arthur Gareld Dove Snowstorm 1880 1946 1935
127 Burgoyne Diller First theme 1959-1960 1906 1965 1960
128 Stuart Davis Odol 1894 1964 1924
129 Max Beckmann Selfportrait with horn 1884 1950 1938
130 Otto Dix Portrait van advocaat Dr. Fitz Glaser 1891 1969 1921
131 Georg Grosz The wild west 1893 1959 1916
132 Christian Schad Bildnis einer Unbekannten 1894 1982 1924
133 Laszlo Moholy-Nagy A XI 1895 1946 1923
134 Lyonel Feininger Krantenlezers II 1871 1956 1909
135 Paul Klee Auftrieb und Weg 1879 1940 1932
136 Josef Albers Study for hommage to the square: Despite Mist 1888 1976 1968
137 Oskar Schlemmer Grosse Sitzendengruppe I 1888 1943 1931
138 Piet Mondriaan New York, Boogie Woogie 1872 1944 1942
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139 Salvador Dal Ma femme hue regardant son propre corps devenir marches 1904 1989 1945
140 Andre Masson La femme paralytique 1896 1987 1939
141 Man Ray Impossibilite Dancer-Danger 1890 1976 1920
142 Roland Penrose Union Nocturne 1900 1984 1936
143 Paul Delvaux Le miroir 1897 1994 1936
144 Matta Disasters of Mysticism 1911 2002 1942
145 Pablo Picasso Boy with a pipe 1881 1973 1905
146 Paul Nash Autumn Landcape 1889 1946 1923
147 Ivon Hitchens Boy at Breakfast 1893 1979 1943
148 Ben Nicholson La Boutique Fantastique 1894 1982 1956
149 John piper Rocky Valley, North Wales 1903 1992 1948
150 Graham Sutherland Toad 1903 1980 1962
151 Diego Rivera Baile in Tehuantepec 1886 1957 1928
152 Jose Clemente Orozco Cellar 1883 1949 1941
153 Frida Kahlo Autorretrato con chango y loro 1907 1954 1942
154 Giorgio de Chirico Il grande metasico 1888 1978 1917
155 Balthus Golden Afternoon 1908 2001 1957
156 Hans Hofmann In Higher Regions 1880 1966 1963
157 Charles Demuth Welcome to our city 1883 1935 1921
158 Edward Hopper Chair Car 1882 1967 1965
159 Georgia OKeeffe From the plains 1872 1986 1919
160 Thomas Hart Benton Homeward bound 1889 1975 1944
161 Jacob Lawrence Ten fugitives 1917 2000 1967
162 Jackson Pollock Number 8, 1950 1912 1956 1950
163 Mark Rothko White and black on white 1903 1970 1968
164 Willem de Kooning Interchange 1904 1997 1955
165 Barnett Newman White re 1 1905 1970 1954
166 Franz Kline Crow Dancer 1910 1962 1958
167 Robert Motherwell Elegion the Spanish Republic Nr. 71 1915 1991 1961
168 Adolph Gottlieb Blast II 1903 1974 1957
169 Clyfford Still 1960-F 1904 1980 1960
170 Sam Francis Towards disappearance! 1923 1994 1958
171 Arshile Gorky Scent of Apricots on the Fields 1904 1948 1944
172 Richard Diebenkorn Ocean Park Nr. 67 1922 1993 1973
173 Asger Jorn In the beginning was the image 1914 1973 1965
174 Karel Appel Vrouwen, kinderen, dieren 1921 2007 1951
175 Pierre Alechinsky Epave 1927 1959
176 Nicholas Stael Syracuse 1914 1955 1954
177 Jean Dubuffet Paris Montparnasse 1901 1985 1961
178 Pierre Soulages Peinture 41-58 1919 1958
179 Hans Hartung T 47-10 1904 1989 1947
180 Fritz Hundertwasser La tour de babel perfore le soleil - un spiraloid - Toren van Babel 1928 2000 1959

(Continued )
 462 FRANSES

Painter Painting Born Deceased Painted

181 Lucio Fontana Concetto spaziale, Il Cielo di Venezia 1915 1995 1952
182 Victor Pasmore Th atelier of Ingres 1908 1998 1946
183 Terry Frost Yellow Quay 1915 2003 1952
184 Sidney Nolan Death of Constable Scanlon 1917 1992 1954
185 Patrick Heron Lux Eterna 1920 1999 1958
186 Leon Kossoff Childrens Swimming Pool, 12 OClock, Sunday Morning, September 1926 1971
187 Frank Auerbach Mornington Crescent with the statue of Sickerts Father 1931 1966
188 R.B. Kitaj Value, price and prot 1932 1963
189 Francis Bacon Study for the human body 1909 1992 1979
190 Lucian Freud Redheaded man on a chair 1922 1963
191 Victor Vasarely Cintra 1908 1997 1956
192 Larry Rivers Africa I 1923 2002 1962
193 Philip Pearlstein Two nudes on a Mexican blanket 1924 1972
194 Andrew Wyeth Christina Olson 1917 1947
195 Jim Dine Hearts 1935 1969
196 Wayne Thiebaud Freeway 1920 1977
197 Roy Lichtenstein Happy Tears 1923 1997 1964
198 Edward Ruscha Talk about space 1937 1963
199 Alex Katz Blauwe Paraplu Nr. 2 1927 1972
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200 Jasper Johns False Start 1930 1959

201 Philip Guston The street 1913 1980 1956
202 James Rosenquist Be beauiful 1933 1964
203 Robert (John Clark) Indiana American Sweetheart 1928 1959
204 Peter Blake Little lady luck 1932 1965
205 Patrick Cauleld Window in the night 1936 1969
206 Allen Jones General and his girl 1937 1961
207 David Hockney Portrait van Nick Wilder 1937 1966
208 Agnes Martin Leaves 1912 2004 1966
209 Jules Olitski Strip Heresy 1922 1964
210 Kenneth Noland Empyrean 1924 1960
211 Fernando Botero La Casa de las Gemelas Arias 1932 1973
212 Richard Estes Gourmet Threats 1932 1977
213 Gerhard Richter Drei Kerzen 1932 1982
214 George Deem School of Winslow Homer 1932 1983
215 Frank Stella Tomlinson Court Park 1936 1959
216 Georg Baselitz Der Hirte 1938 1965
217 Brice Marden 10 Dialog 2 1938 1988
218 Sigmar Polke Bavarian 1941 1965
219 Anselm Kiefer Athanor 1945 1991
220 Julian Schnabel Portrait of a girl 1951 1980
221 Chris Oli plus Y equals O 1968 2000