"Why have some great modern artists - including Picasso - produced their most important work early in their careers while other - like Cezanne - have done theirs late in life? In a work that brings new insights, and new dimensions, to a history of modern art, David Galenson examines the careers of more than 100 modern painters to disclose a fascinating relationship between age and artistic creativity.".

"Galenson's analysis of the careers of figures such as Monet, Seurat, Matisse, Pollock, and Jasper Johns reveals two very different methods by which artists have made innovations, each associated with a very different pattern of discovery over the life cycle. Experimental innovators, like Cezanne, work by trial and error and arrive at their most important contributions gradually. In contrast, Picasso and other conceptual innovators make sudden breakthroughs by formulating new ideas.

Consequently, experimental innovators usually make their discoveries late in their lives, whereas conceptual innovators typically peak at an early age."--BOOK JACKET.