Your Creativity Doesn’t Need New Input – The Art of Helene Schjerfbeck

For sixty years, Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck painted one and the same subject: her own face. No new input, no art scene, no fresh inspiration. And yet, with every return to the mirror, her paintings grew bolder, until she had created some of the most radically modern works of her time. This episode is for everyone searching for creativity, and open to the idea that it isn't only found in the new, but sometimes in the things you've looked at a thousand times. In this episode, we start in a small hotel room in Sweden, where a seriously ill woman in her eighties painted the most radical works of her life: more than twenty self-portraits in two years. From there, we follow the trail back through six decades of self-portraits – from the celebrated young talent in Paris, to a small railway town far from everything, to the mirror she never stopped returning to – and discover how staying creative on nothing became the quiet method behind one of the boldest bodies of work in modern art. It's a question for anyone who wants to create: what if creativity isn't waiting in the next place, the next person, the next new thing – but in whatever is right in front of you? ArtWithCarolin is for creative people looking for inspiration for their own work. Here we explore how great artists nurtured their creative life and what you can take from it for your creativity. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:52 – Bolder Art 01:55 – A Biography in Self Portraits 04:57 – This Is Where Her Story Should Have Ended 06:47 – Finding the Essence 09:25 – Where Creativity Waits #HeleneSchjerfbeck #creativity #arthistory #selfportrait #findingcreativity Artwork and Image Credits (including works used during research and production): https://www.artwithcarolin.com/artwor... Contact: info@artwithcarolin.com Carolin Ngo Postproduction: Pierce Vaughn https://www.piercevaughn.com Editor: Rosella M. Vaughn The rights of copyright holders and artists along with institutions and collections are of the utmost importance to me. I’ve done my absolute best to track down and credit all rightful owners. But if, despite my best efforts, you feel your contribution has been unintentionally left out or is credited incorrectly, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to make it right.