creativity and visual art

Something I find myself doing in this class (though this is everyday basic action for nearly everyone) is comparing themes or plotlines, even lines, to life, reality and even other films or entertainment that remind me of whatever it is I’m watching. As it has been said many a time in class, there is nothing original anymore, so I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised when I find myself making odd connections to other plotlines from different centuries.
While reading Robert Nathan’s Portrait of Jennie, I am constantly reminded of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey. The style is completely different, and to be honest, Grey is a better novel. There really aren’t too many parallels…well, actually maybe there are. Each painter in the novels is obsessed by a sort of mystical, beautiful character who then inspires their art. Also, these interesting subjects make wishes that magically come true…strangely enough, both have to do with defying aging (oh, fiction and fantasy). I suppose what the connection really makes me wonder, though, is linked to the plot elements of art and beauty. As I am not a visual artist, I’m not exactly sure how much inspiration is actually needed in reality to create an incredible piece of art-do these ridiculous fantastical characters need to be used time and again? Isn’t there any other form of inspiration (love and time-defying characters aside) that can be used so commonly? It also makes me think that beauty defying time through art is a common statement (definitely didn’t work out too well for Dorian Grey in the end, though) that authors are trying to get across…but isn’t it almost ingrained into our minds from childhood that beauty represented in art is one of the only types of beauty that lasts? It seems to me that these common themes all point to nearly the same lesson that we’ve learned hundreds of times over, and Portrait of Jennie is simply another example (albeit an interesting one).