I love this quote because it conjures thoughts of the human psychology: To how much of an extent are humans predestined to have a certain set of skills and how much do our experiences effect what we become good at? The quote obviously references artistic skill. It made me think of the human brain - Picasso seems to think that we are all born with a sort of map of endless routes of which artistic skill is an option. Going down this route (or at least remaining somewhat along the direction) is, in his eyes, the skill an artist has to employ in order to become great, and this in some ways can be backed up by evidence. I would be interested to hear from a biologist's point of view but I believe that the environment you grow up in to a large extent moulds the person you become. Yet when looking at some of Picasso's early sketches, I really do start to think that genetics must play a part in it. I find it hard to believe that any kid could draw as anatomically correctly as this at the age of 12:
I find this image somewhat inspirational, yet in a cold sort of look-how-good-this-guy-was-when-he-was-12 kind of way. To be fair he was brought up in a completely art-orientated education, so it would be what he was doing everyday; yet I just can't get over how realistic that graphite rendering is. In my eyes artistic skill is a product of equifinality - a mixture of predetermined genetics and the influences of your environment, and my love for the quote lies in the extent to which it made me think.
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