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'Eureka' exclaimed Archimedes after discovering the famous principle of physics that bears his name - an exclamation of satisfaction and joy at having solved a difficult problem, a truly creative action. The words creativity and art have become strictly correlated in our society. In fact, numerous people who master an artistic technique feel that they are also more creative. But which are the areas of the brain that elaborate these processes?
In most individuals the processing of information involving linguistic material takes place in the left hemisphere whereas spatial material is processed in the right hemisphere. Thus the left hemisphere processes consecutive and linear data, whilst the right processes perceptive and global data. In addition to speech, the left hemisphere is used for reading, writing, logical analysis, arithmetic and mathematics, recognising and producing symbols and the creation of memory. In short, it is used for the linguistic-logical dimension. On the other hand, the right hemisphere is used for artistic and musical abilities, spatial relationships, recognising faces, overall visualisation, relating new and old material together and for memory retrieval, so it is connected to the spatial and global aspects of information.
In a certain way the two hemispheres are in competition. Since our culture tends to favour language and logic, the left hemisphere tends to predominate over the right. Learning to control this tendency, it is possible to gain access to activities of the brain modulated by the right hemisphere that is often obscured by language. It is therefore possible to improve your creativity. To be able to process information using the right hemisphere in a spatial and global way, the brain needs to be presented with a task that the analytical and verbal parts in the left hemisphere refuse, so to speak.
A simple example of how the left hemisphere prevails over the right is seen in a life drawing. If we try to copy the drawing of a face, we notice how our knowledge can alter our ability to see what we should copy. The nose will not be the one the model has but our idea of the nose. A trick to deactivating information coming from the left hemisphere is to copy a design upside down so as not to lose any meaning or definition.
Since various modifications occur to the brain with old age, I asked myself if being creative comes from this process or is it immune to it? DHere are a few artists who continued to produce great works to a ripe old age. In literature, Sophocles wrote Oedipus in Colono aged 89, Goethe completed Faus’ at 80 and Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserables when 60 years old. In figurative art, Giotto at the age of 66 planned the bell tower of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. At 64 years old Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel and after that his art culminated in the cupola of St. Peter’s and the Pietà Rondanini, now preserved in Milan. Leonardo began the Mona Lisa at the age of 50 and continued to retouch the painting until the last day of his 67 years of life. Titian lived until he was 86 years old and in the last period of his life painted with greater ease and expression. Also Goya and Monet found new modes of expression at an old age.
At 60 years of age Tiepolo painted the magnificent frescoes in Palazzo Reale in Madrid. Botero, after reaching 75 years of age showed he had the energy and creativity to paint every day for up to eight hours without a break, including Saturdays and Sundays. Although in good health, Verdi did not accept old age very well but produced some of his most important operas; Othello when 76 and Falstaff when 80 years old. He finished the latter in 1893; in 1894 he directed the rehearsals for 6 to 8 hours a day and his spiritual and physical condition amazed the doctors. Buñuel won an Oscar for The Discrete Charms of the Bourgeoisie at 72 years old.
All these examples show how creativity in old age cannot only remain active but also achieve excellence. Good stimulation of creativity is necessary because it can protect the brain from the erosion that comes with time - above all, the prefrontal cortex of the brain that functions as the command centre of the brain.
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