A professional artist is a rather ambiguous concept. There are two points of view on the subject – and both are correct.
A professional artist is a master who knows all the intricacies of drawing and has special education. He can not only create masterpieces, but also formally teach those who wish to learn the basics of fine art;
A professional painter is a talented person who creates excellent paintings without any professional education. In this case, his work is a success.
If we turn to statistics and analyze examples from international practice, the majority of professional artists who made history were graduates of famous schools and academies:
Pablo Picasso;
Leonardo da Vinci;
Rembrandt Van Rijn;
Michelangelo Buonarroti;
Salvador Dali;
Claude Monet;
Pierre Auguste Renoir;
Vincent van Gogh;
Ilya Repin;
Marc Chagall.
Among contemporary artists there are also examples of famous personalities who received an academic education.
Warren Chang – graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981.
Alkasandre Balos – graduated from the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1995, where he studied painting under philosophy professor Harry Rosin. He received his bachelor’s degree.
But there are a lot of examples of talented artists who did not receive a classical education, but became quite successful and famous. Winning recognition and entered the history of world culture self-taught artists are, for example, Paul Gauguin, Jack Hoggan, Henri Rousseau.
The conclusion is: to become a professional artist and conquer the world public, to have an academic education is desirable but not obligatory. Especially in today’s world, where there are many opportunities to make yourself known to the world online.
Becoming an art academy student means not only comprehending the laws of drawing, but also gaining invaluable experience with competent, creative individuals. As many great teachers and psychologists say, the main goal of an academic education is not so much to gain highly specialized knowledge as to develop the whole personality. The obvious advantages of studying in an institution of higher education are as follows:
daily work in an environment of like-minded people under the guidance of a mentor;
Development of a sense of responsibility and discipline;
constructive criticism from competent people;
development of the ability to learn;
getting qualified help in discovering one’s talent;
immersion in a thematic atmosphere;
the prospect of finding a high-paying job, since one of the main requirements is, as a rule, having a profile education and a characteristic from the place of study.