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Death, Bereavement, and Creativity

Author

Listed:
  • Kathryn Graddy

    (International Business School, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454)

  • Carl Lieberman

    (Department of Economics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544)

Abstract

Does creativity, on average, increase or decrease during bereavement? Dates of death of relatives and close friends of 33 French artists and 15 American artists were gathered from electronic sources and biographies, and information on over 15,000 paintings was collected from the Blouin Art Sales Index and the online collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Musée d’Orsay, including more than 12,000 observations on price. An event study indicates that there is no evidence that the death of a friend or relative makes an artist more creative, and there is some evidence that prices of paintings are significantly lower during the first year following the year of death of a friend or relative. Furthermore, paintings that were created during this bereavement period are less likely to be included in a major museum’s collection.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathryn Graddy & Carl Lieberman, 2018. "Death, Bereavement, and Creativity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4505-4514, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:64:y:2018:i:10:p:4505-4514
    DOI: 10.287/mnsc.2017.2850
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Borowiecki, Karol Jan & Graddy, Kathryn, 2021. "Immigrant artists: Enrichment or displacement?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 785-797.
    2. Marchenko, Maria & Sonnabend, Hendrik, 2022. "The Never Ending Book: The role of external stimuli and peer feedback in user-generated content production," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 320, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    creativity; death; artist; art auctions; bereavement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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