Where Does Creativity Come From – Is it Innate?

The creativity is a common term that appears daily in our lives, however what it really means to be creative? Do all people are creative?

We have composed some of the theories that reflect on creativity and throwing some answers about its origin. What emerges where? Is it a work or something natural?

At a conference in the year 1938, the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig explained what is art work, how the author gets to devise it and build it. Distinguishing two types of creative action in his speech; one born of inspiration and automatically whereas, another via the effort, the constancy that allows the artist to improve their work during the creation of its own, such as through sketches, notes, or outlines. So, achieving a masterpiece would be only the result of a moment of eloquence.

The same answer was given by Pablo Picasso on the role of inspiring creativity, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" which means great ideas and eureka moments will only arise if the work is done every day, constantly.

Zweig concluded, finally, that there is no single formula to clarify the creative process, however in the artist happens combination of states, sprouting and ingenuity. Accuracy, yes, it must possess superior intellectual qualities presenting an essential relationship between genius & creativity to come up with a unique creation.

Thought differently, a German therapist Paul Matussek in Creativity from a psychodynamic perspective (1984), for whom the creative act and intelligence have no causal relationship itself. Since, most of the times, creativity is manifested through the intuition, the need to form something as a solution to a problem.

Consequently, creativity would be subject to the potential that each person has to create, to discover something new. And this also depends on the freedom and the technical skills of each individual. Visiting others creativity at Art Shows to gain new ideas & techniques, is one of the ways to enhance your own creativity.

In turn, in Art, Mind and Brain (1993), the American psychologist Howard Gardner met the numerous factors involved in the creative moment, highlighting the tension between creativity and experience. That is, that the habit of implementing the same knowledge can diminish the desire to change the forms generally used.

Photo Credit: © By Artist Edgar Degas

Therefore, the improvisation is considered by many as one of the protagonists in the creative process mechanisms. A dialogue that occurs between the work and its author and emerges beyond the realm of consciousness is the unconscious. Edgar Degas, a French painter emphasized that spontaneous creativity inherent aspect: “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.”

In Maurice Sérullaz, the artist Edgar Degas also quoted that “Indeed it is very good to copy what one sees; however it is much better to draw what you can't see any more but is memorized. It is a revolution in which imagination and memory work together. You only reproduce what struck you.”

What seems unanimous is that creativity is intrinsically linked to the imagination and logic that escapes the intelligence, as is the case with the very concept of art. "I shut my eyes in order to see," confessed Paul Gauguin.

Creativity seeks and finds new challenges to face. And, likewise, offers the chance to humans to solve their needs through new and innovative ways. “We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves” said by Paul Gauguin.

So, what do you think? Is creativity a work (skill developed) or inborn? Is it the combination of the two states? Does creativity depend on any other factors? If you know any, feel free to share it in comments.