Pablo Picasso

“A painter is a man who paints what he sells. An artist, however, is a man who sells what he paints.”

The Spanish sculptor and painter, Pablo Picasso, was known to have said this after he sold “The Two Brothers” (1906) and “Sitting Arlequin” (1923) to Swiss collector Rudolf Staechelin for $ 1,950,000, some years after the Great Depression (1929).

Artists have differing opinions on what Picasso meant. One side thinks that these are two different careers. Marketing and artistry do not necessarily compliment each other and being good at one may be the detriment of the other.

Another side thinks that branding and artistry are complimentary. There are remarkable differences between marketing and branding: marketing is related to market, interest, logic, profitability, opportunity, quantitative and short term. However, branding is related to society, value, feeling, reputation, innovation, qualitative and long term. The greatest artist of the history practiced branding without knowing it.

From the beginning of Tim’s art career, we have been told that he needs to sculpt sculptures that are his “bread and butter” sculptures. He has never been able to wrap his brain around this. He does do a lot of commission pieces and these are not his favorite. The artistic ability is still there and the pieces are magnificent, but when he creates something he sees or an idea and the piece is sold, he is selling a part of him with the piece. That is an artist.

What do you think?