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Painting Outside the Lines: Patterns of Creativity in Modern Art

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In his conclusion to "Painting Outside the Lines," David Galenson writes:

"this book has exposed a deep fault line in the history of modern art, by revealing the dramatic and systematic differences between experimental and conceptual approaches to artistic innovation that have separated seekers and finders over the course of time."

Indeed, "Painting Outside the Lines" has done just that. Challenging the common assumption that all artists naturally produce more valuable paintings as they mature, Galenson has discovered that although some artists do conform to this expectation, others actually produce their most valuable paintings when they are younger. Experimental innovators,
such as Cezanne and Motherwell, constantly revise their work,
rarely feeling as if their work is ever fully completed, and
have their greatest success when they are older. No doubt they would agree with Nietzsche's observation: "But it takes more courage to make an end than a new verse. All doctors and poets [and artists] know that." Conceptual artists, including
Picasso and Stella, on the other hand, make many drafts before they begin their paintings, and consider their paintings
finished once their initial conception of them is complete. LeWitt, a conceptual painter, even went so far as to have his work executed by others.

Galenson quantifies the value of artists' paintings by
their appearances in art exhibits and by their inclusions
in art books. This pragmatic approach is an innovative
contrast to the ways in which art historians evaluate art. Moreover, Galenson's insight into the two radically different methods of artistic innovation could be applied to myriad
other creative disciplines, including poetry and music.

Galenson, himself an experimental economist, has ended his book on a dramatic note. I will be eager to see how he develops his own work further, now that his original theory is in place.