Yep. Free time might be required, and there's danger in groupthink absolutely, but you can just ignore the noise of the group, rather than avoid the group. Be

Yep. Free time might be required, and there's danger in groupthink absolutely, but you can just ignore the noise of the group, rather than avoid the group. Be with the crowd sometime but not all the time. As there's also things to be learned from other people too. And it's great being able to be your own person and ignore that crowd. Given, I greatly prefer Van Gogh to Picasso and Matisse, it's probably just as likely his mental state were an influence of his art, not the whole loneliness thing. Drawing the conclusion the other way seems dangerous, to encourage isolation. However it's good to say it's not ok, or not one's fault. It's hard especially due to 'fake socialization' like Facetube and such, smartphones, and people's busy isolated schedules involving central air conditioning to expand a circle of people you know. It seems dangerous to say to be creative you must be lonely, it's very wrong. Yet it's also wrong to say it's wrong to be lonely, because of factors that make it a really hard thing. I think we need to suggest to other people that aren't so isolated to reach out and be friendly to more people. In the south (of the US) it used to be increasingly common for people to say hi to people they met out walking, and increasingly as people move in from other places, it's rare when someone says hi back. Then people go back into their houses and you don't see them again. The problems that cause society to be isolating are somewhat improveable, but it requires awareness of it. I think it's possible Van Gogh didn't really want to be isolated, but that was his way of justifying it and being ok with it, and that his feelings of isolation were rooted in deeper problems. We'll never know. But if you are feeling isolated or whatever, don't feel you have to be that way. It's not your fault though something you have to fight for (because everybody is caught up in doing whatever they are doing), it's everybody else's fault to a degree, and you can be creative either way.