A new study shows that there is a fine line between creative genius and mental instability. Well, DUH. I have been telling everyone that for years and I am a prime example of it. The article also states that most funny people are depressed. Yeh, that is what I want...a content joyful comedian. How can I laugh if there isn't a depth of snarky sarcasm at the heart of every observation.
They used Salvador Dali, one of my favorite painters as an example of the genius/insanity dicotomy. Just look at those eyes (check), that mustache (check), and the pet Ocelot (double check).
"Salvador Dali was not just a great artist. He also met the criteria for several psychosis diagnoses, a mixture of schizophrenic and depressive. He may also have been paranoid, as well having antisocial, histrionic, and narcissistic disorders. "Dalí and his contribution to the history of art highlights that abnormality is not necessarily disagreeable – or to be so readily dismissed as a sign of neurological disease. For without his instability, Dalí may not have created the great art that he did," says Caroline Murphy of Oxford."
One look at his work and you can tell we are not dealing with a 'normal' intellect here but a genius intellect nonetheless.
These paintings by Louis Wain show how as his schizophrenia increased the look of his cat paintings radically changed. A spike in creativity or madness? You decide.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/features/creative-minds-the-links-between-mental-illness-and-creativity-1678929.html
