"A Painter's Wisdom"

This brief piece, by Max Beckmann, is a satirical look at the top ten things that artists should do and remember to have a successful career/life.  The ten observations / pieces of advice look humorously at the relationship between the artist and the public as well as the relationships between artist, critic, art dealer, and patron.  Beckmann observes that artists must be self-promoters and they must respect authority, money, and power.  Essentially, an artist is a servant of society and is subject to the whims of the public: "his only purpose consisting in sprinkling the world with brightly colored pollen" (32).  He also amusingly writes that one of the best things an artist can do is to die.  Only then will their work truly be noticed and appreciated by their peers and the public.  

Max Beckmann, Carnival: The Artist and his Wife, 1925

Here are a couple great quotes from this article:

"It is therefore advised that should the unfortunate artist have been endowed by nature with a little sense and a modicum of critical faculty he keep these qualities to himself" (32).

"The best thing an artist can do, of course, is to die.  Only when the last living vestige of this bothersome personality has disintegrated in his grave can his fellow men take pleasure in his work.  Only then does the artist's work truly belong to his contemporaries, for if they buy it at the right time it is as good as if they had made it.  The artist is therefor strongly advised to die at the right time.  Only thereby can he put the finishing touches on his work" (32).