We learn more and more every day here at Jackson Fish Market. And hopefully we’re improving with each new app we release. One of my favorite (most hopeful and most inspiring) studies is by University of Chicago Economist David Galenson — Old Geniuses and Young Masters. Now Malcolm Gladwell writes about this same topic in the New Yorker:

“The imprecision of their goals means that these artists rarely feel they have succeeded, and their careers are consequently often dominated by the pursuit of a single objective. These artists repeat themselves, painting the same subject many times, and gradually changing its treatment in an experimental process of trial and error. Each work leads to the next, and none is generally privileged over others, so experimental painters rarely make specific preparatory sketches or plans for a painting. They consider the production of a painting as a process of searching, in which they aim to discover the image in the course of making it; they typically believe that learning is a more important goal than making finished paintings. Experimental artists build their skills gradually over the course of their careers, improving their work slowly over long periods. These artists are perfectionists and are typically plagued by frustration at their inability to achieve their goal.”

I can’t imagine that there’s anyone who hopes that their best work is behind them.