The American psychologist
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The American psychologist · Apr 2001
Biography Historical ArticleVariability, constraints, and creativity. Shedding light on Claude Monet.
Recent experimental research suggests 2 things. The first is that along with learning how to do something, people also learn how variably or differently to continue doing it. ⋯ In this view, Claude Monet's habitually high level of variability in painting was acquired during his childhood and early apprenticeship and was maintained throughout his adult career by a continuous series of task constraints imposed by the artist on his own work. For Monet, variability was rewarded and rewarding.