Going beyond a passion for art

A headline writer for the Times of London called it “the big bang theory of art.”

And certainly that paper is not the only media outlet that, in recent weeks, has taken notice of a scientific study suggesting that professional artists and poets have more active sex lives than the general population. Wrote Andrew Dickson for the Guardian Unlimited: “There aren’t many things that can warm the arts desk’s cockles on a chilly November morning ... but this may be one.”

The cockle-warming study found, in a survey of 425 British adults, that creative types had about twice as many sexual partners as other people. The numbers: between four and 10, compared with an average of three for noncreative people, according to Dr. Daniel Nettle, a lecturer in psychology at Newcastle University’s School of Biology and lead author of the study.

Nettle suggests that creative people are “considered to be attractive and get lots of attention” and offers that people who are seduced by an artist’s work are at risk of being seduced by the artist.

But there’s more. The study also suggests a strong link between artistic tendencies and mental illness. Since artists are so promiscuous, it concludes, their sexual activity is what has kept schizophrenia from being cleansed from the gene pool.

British artist Dinos Chapman, also writing for the Guardian, isn’t buying any of it. His opinion: “Don’t expect honesty from artists at any time. Massive delicate egos and a myopic view of reality don’t make for any kind of study. The truth is that artists aren’t that special. People just like to think so -- especially artists.”