Did you know that Vincent Van Gogh sold one painting while he was alive? Johannes Vermeer suffered a similar frustration. But their works were later taught in art schools around the world. But this wasn’t true for all artists. Here are five who saw the adulation of the masses, and the accompanying financial windfalls, while they were still around to enjoy success.

Michelangelo
Italy’s thriving city-states offered opportunities for gifted artists during the 16th century, and one who attracted more demand from wealthy patrons was Michelangelo— whose full name was di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Following his marble-carved Pietà (1498-1499) and David statue (1501-1504), Michelangelo became a favorite of Pope Julius II, for whom he produced the equally breathtaking Moses (1513-1515) as part of an otherwise unfinished mausoleum project.
Although considered himself a sculptor, Michelangelo also produced some of the greatest paintings with frescoes such as “The Creation of Adam” (1508-1512) on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and he later displayed his talents for design after taking over as chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica. The nonstop commissions made this Renaissance master a very rich man, although he lived frugally, while his fame made him the first Western artist to be the subject of a biography while he was still alive.

Joshua Reynolds
While painter Joshua Reynolds is not as well remembered as Michelangelo, he was famous in 18th-century England. Reynolds is best known for launching the “Grand Manner” portraiture movement, which placed subjects in classical poses amid idealized depictions of nature. Thanks to his connections, the artist received the opportunity to paint many of his era’s celebrities (including King George III) and establish his standing in high-society circles.
A founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts, Reynolds became its inaugural president in 1768 knighted the following year. When he died in 1792, Reynolds’ body was brought to London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral in a procession that included 91 carriages filled with his famous friends, trailed by the members of the Royal Academy’s faculty and student body.

Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe forged her path to emerge as the “mother of American modernism” in the years following World War I. She ignored the restrictive limitations of her traditional training, This was partly because of the connections and promotional abilities of her husband, New York gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz, but mainly due to the accessibility of her immediate She drew inspiration from her surrounding be it the petals featured in “Petunia No. 2” (1924), the skyscraper of “Radiator Building - Night, New York” (1927), or the horned subject of “Cow's Skull: Red, White and Blue” (1931), O’Keeffe developed an audience willing to shell out premium prices for her oil paintings by the 1920s. The first woman to earn a retrospective from the Museum of Modern Art in 1946, she was recognized as a national treasure, receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Gerald Ford in 1977 and the Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

Salvador Dalí
With his pointed mustache and wide-eyed expressions, Spain’s Salvador Dalí is instantly recognizable. He wielded a celebrity that exceeded his remarkable skills with a paintbrush. Following his early dabbles with cubism and impressionism, Dalí became a leader of the burgeoning surrealist movement by way of such compellingly bizarre paintings as “The Persistence of Memory” (1931) and “The Enigma of William Tell” (1933).
The surrealists excommunicated him because of his instinct for public theatrics and the acute business sense of his wife and muse, Gala, ensured his survival as a one-man band. Dalí spent much of the 1940s in the United States, where dabbled in projects in feature films, jewelry, and theater set design, before returning to Spain at the end of the decade to focus on religious imagery in his paintings.

Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol started as a commercial illustrator. But he became an icon of the pop art movement by way of photo-based paintings such as “Campbell’s Soup Cans” (1962) and “Triple Elvis” (1963), while his Manhattan studio, aka “The Factory,” emerged as the center of the bohemian New York City art scene.
Although he ostensibly “retired” from painting in the mid-’60s to focus on filmmaking and other endeavors, which were short-lived. Warhol supported himself by undertaking commissioned portraits through the 1970s, and he later enjoyed a revival via collaborations with younger talents such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. His fame and fortune intact upon his death in 1987, Warhol demonstrated to successive generations of artists that it was OK to fulfill one’s creative ambitions while simultaneously seeking the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Do you know of any others who should be on my list? Please add your comments to my website: FrankVictoriaAuthor.com

Frank Victoria is an award-winning author and screenwriter. He’s been an Amazon bestseller with his recent book, The Founders’ Plot, a political thriller for our times. He donates proceeds of his books to Tunnels to Towers and Fisher House, helping military veterans and first responders. His novella, The Ultimate Bet and The Protectors are available on his website and Amazon.
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