Does Being Artistic Run In The Family?

In modern age, where considerable research has proved the importance of genes, one would think that being artistic should run in the family. Moreover, if the family itself is artistically inclined, the offspring gets ample chance to nurture the in born talent and take it a notch further. Several examples of famous artists can make this argument fairly strong.

Let us take the example of Pablo Picasso, who is considered the greatest artists of the 20th century. His father Don Jose Ruiz Blasco was himself an art teacher and himself a keen artist. Although Pablo far surpassed his father at a very early age, the fact remains that being an artist was in his blood. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who is considered one of the greatest composers of classical music, was the son of Leopold Mozart who himself was a composer and violinist. Again this can be used to support that fact that the artistic inclination, be it painting or music runs in the family.

One can of course argue as to why at times great artists were born of parents who did not do anything artistic in their lives. One such example could be Leonardo da Vinci whose parents were not artists. Such exceptions always prove the rule and it is also possible that the artistic streak in Da Vinci's mother could not blossom as she was a commoner and had a hard life while Da Vinci got all the opportunities because his father was very wealthy and saw to it that he got an affluent upbringing.