The Benefits for Artists Living Abroad

For artists who live outside their native countries, life offers a new perspective on the world and this experience deepens and enriches their work immeasurably. This is true for artists of every medium. However, music and the visual arts readily cross borders and transcend cultures because they do not depend on language to express ideas and emotions. My own experience as a poet and painter has taught me the artistic value of living and working in a foreign culture. In San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, my eyes have been opened to new ways of seeing and expressing the universal truths about the human condition.

Many artists have fled their homeland for political or personal reasons. Others have simply left in search of a more congenial environment. Painters such as Amadeo Modigliani, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and Pablo Picasso found tremendous sources of inspiration abroad.