Almost all of us have habits, whether we always sleep at a specific time, put cereal on the bowl before the milk, or twirl our hair when we are nervous. These habits cannot be taken away from most people, but while habits can usually be a bad thing that we do, they are what makes us humans unique most of the time, as not all habits are the same.
Even though habits are not really destructive or intrusive in our daily lives, there are some habits that are just too weird that they affect the way we live most of the time. These weird habits are usually found in some of the strangest artists in the world, and many psychologists believe that these peculiar habits help the artists become more creative and thus produce more artistic works. Here are the habits of the strangest artists of all time.
Andy Warhol
It is known by many that Andy Warhol likes to collect all kinds of stuff, from posters, old or burned photographs, and even mummified feet. Warhol usually collects these items that no one has any use for to create artworks that were collectively called “Time Capsules.” After his death in 1987, it is believed that Andy Warhol managed to fill 608 boxes with different kinds of items. Each box is sealed tightly with tape and has a written date when Andy Warhol finished filling the box. Most of the time capsules are discovered only after Andy Warhol’s death, so no one actually knows if those 608 boxes are all the capsules that Warhol made or if there are more.
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon has a weird habit of painting artworks whenever he has a hangover. According to Bacon, working on art while hungover helps him have more energy to be creative and productive. Bacon would usually wake up early to paint, and during the afternoon up to the nighttime, he would go socialize with his friends and drink lots of alcoholic beverages. Of course, he would go home late, so he would just have a few hours to sleep before he wakes up early to start another day. What many people didn’t realize while Bacon has this habit is that the artist suffered from severe insomnia, so he would often consume pills just to be able to take a nap. When he can’t sleep, Bacon stated that he would read cookbooks that are so boring that they make him sleep.
Gilbert and George
Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore are London-based artists that work together as one unit to create photo-based artworks and performance art. Known as the art duo Gilbert & George, they are almost always seen together whenever they are outside, and they also wore the same style of suits. In addition, both of them wake up at 6:30 AM, and for lunch and dinner, they always go to the same restaurant and order the same meal for three months before they change what they eat and stick to it for another three months. To produce more art, they rarely go outside, and when they buy groceries for their home, they already purchase loads of ingredients and other edible items so that they will have stocks of food for many months.
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf is an amazing writer that was able to publish some of the best works in literary history, but what many people don’t know about her is that she has a strange habit whenever she writes. Virginia Woolf has a sister named Vanessa Bell, who is a painter. To prove that painting is much more difficult to do than writing, Vanessa would paint while standing up. Not wanting to lose, Virginia also wrote stories while also standing up. This habit would then continue to be part of Virginia’s routine for many years.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is particularly notorious for aiming a revolver at people that ask him about the meaning of his artworks. Picasso wanted those that view his artworks to have their own interpretations of the art, so he despised the ones that cannot separate the art from the artists and continually ask him about what the proper interpretation should be for a certain artwork. While the people he is aiming at are threatened, what they don’t realize is that Picasso loads his revolver with blanks so that it wouldn’t cause fatal harm to anybody. So, Picasso only intimidates pesky people so that they won’t bother him again with questions.
Strange habits are not only found in artists, as they can also be done by ordinary people that seemingly live relatively normal lives. Most of our habits are usually made at home, so most people don’t really see our weird side. If you have peculiar habits, you are free to embrace them, as long as it doesn’t prevent you from living normally.