Genius and Madness

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Genius and madness/ mental instability: does it go hand in hand? There is an opinion that all the genius people are mad. In a matter of fact it depends on a person’s perception of the word “mad”. Sometimes people call a person mad if he or she creates something incredible, which seems even impossible to make. In other cases people think that a person is mad because he or she is very energetic and enthusiastic. However, does the notion “genius” go hand in hand with the notion “madness” or “mental instability” in its literal meaning or it is just a stereotype? The first example of a genius in this essay is Salvador Dali. He is worldwide famous for creating impressive and exceptional pictures of surrealistic genre. Dali’s pictures may seem illogical and absurd to an uninitiated observer. However, the artist, employed extensive symbolism in his work. For instance, “melting watches” that first appear in his famous picture “The Persistence of Memory” suggest Einstein’s theory that time is relative and not fixed. Dali uses the image of an egg in “The Metamorphosis of Narcissus” to symbolize hope and love. There are some animals that appear throughout his work: ants point to death, decay and immense sexual desire; the snail is connected to the human head; and locusts are a symbol of waste and fear. Thus, Salvador Dali was known to be an extraordinary person with a high and incredible imagination, that is why his pictures are so unique and unusual. Moreover, his eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork. Nevertheless, Dali’s talented, extraordinary personality of genius has nothing to do with mental instability. The artist says about himself, “The only difference between me and a madman, is that I am not mad!” Another example of a great renown genius is that of Pablo Picasso. He was a Spanish painter,
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