Pot Smoking Painters: Famous Artists Who Smoked Weed

Creativity and cannabis have long been linked.

Many artists smoke marijuana to help them tap into their creativity.

That is just as true for painters as it is for other artists.

In fact, many of the most famous painters throughout history have resorted to cannabis to help them create their artworks.

Which painters smoked weed?

Keep reading to find out. Below, we will list the most famous pot smoking painters in history.

 

Famous Painters Who Smoked Weed

Some of these painters openly admitted to using marijuana, but with others, it is just speculation. But evidence suggests that it is highly likely they enjoyed at least the occasional toke.

 

El Greco (1541-1614)

El Greco is the nickname of the Spanish painter Domenikos Theotokopoulos. He was known for his bold views on art and even criticized Michelangelo.

If reports are to be believed, El Greco offered to ‘tear down’ the nudes painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel and repaint the whole thing from scratch.

El Greco is famous for painting elongated figures and for the use of phantasmagorical (strange or dream-like) pigmentation. Some experts, including doctors, attributed his unique art style to squint or astigmatism, the use of marijuana, and even to general madness or insanity.

 

Adriaen Brouwer (1605-1638)

Adriaen Brouwer is considered an important innovator of portrait painting. He is believed to have influenced many Flemish artists in and around Flanders and Holland.

Some experts believe that Brouwer extended his expensive tobacco with locally grown hemp flowers. His famous painting The Smokers depicts five men smoking and drinking beer. One of the men in this painting is his self-portrait (the man facing the viewer while exhaling smoke).

 

Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)

Jean-Léon Gérôme was a 19th-century French painter, sculptor, and teacher. His art depicted biblical and historical events, as well as stories from mythology.

One of his paintings is titled The Hashish Smoker. It depicts a man smoking hashish (which is made from the resin of the buds of the cannabis plant). We do not know whether Gérôme himself used hashish for sure, but some speculate that he may have used it for inspiration.

 

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Van Gogh was known to get high when he worked. He was also quite vocal about his use of weed and hash and even wrote to his brother, Theo, about it. In his letter, he stated that weed helped him “work in series and inspired his creativity”.

Van Gogh even mentioned that the cannabis plant helped him transform paint and canvas into “wildly swirling images”. To his friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh wrote “I am painting a portrait of people at the brothel, and in the evening, I smoke a pipe of hashish”.

 

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Gustav Klimt was a famous Austrian painter and one of the most prominent artists of the Vienna Secession Movement. He was known for his frankly erotic depictions of the female bodies.

It is not known for sure if Klimt used marijuana, but some experts believe he did. Also, one of his paintings called The Garden clearly shows a woman holding a bundle of cannabis flowers which indicates that the artist may have used it himself.

 

Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

Edvard Munch is an artist known for provocative and shocking art work, especially his painting known as the Scream. He often painted scenes of death, mental illness/madness, and drugs.

It is believed that Munch himself experimented with drugs and was an alcoholic as well. We do not know for sure if he smoked weed, but he is known to have used “drugs and pain” as inspiration for his masterpieces.

 

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian artist who believed that color has the power to directly influence the soul.

In the 1900s, after he had exhibited his work with European avant-garde groups, he was criticized by experts as being a “drug-addicted lunatic who deconstructed form in his art”. However, others believed that he was the pioneer of abstraction.

 

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

After seeing Henri Matisse’s work, some experts felt that “only a person under the influence of drugs could see such breaking up of form in pieces and fractals”. The French artist is well known for art with unique colors and originality.

Again, there is no definite proof that Matisse was a stoner or that he used drugs and psychedelics to get inspired, but his ability to paint striking murals leads many to that speculation.

 

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Picasso revolutionized art and is often considered ‘The Artist’ of the 20th century. Over his lifetime, he is known to have painted more than 13,000 paintings.

While he never openly admitted to smoking pot, some experts speculate that he used cannabis for inspiration. He also has a painting titled Men Smoking Pot (1966), which has led to the speculation that the legendary artist may have used it himself.

 

Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

Salvador Dali openly claimed to have smoked marijuana “just once” and describing it as a wonderful experience. However, there is speculation that he may have used weed regularly.

Some experts also argue that he regularly used psychedelics (LSD or mushrooms) and that the drug-induced altered state of mind helped foster his creativity. Dali is also famously quoted as having once said “I don’t do drugs, I am drugs”.

 

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Frida Kahlo was a famous Mexican painter known for her unique, dream-like paintings, especially self-portraits. When she was 18, she suffered a terrible accident while traveling on a tram. The impact caused a handrail to penetrate her pelvis, resulting in severe life-long pain.

Frida took up using marijuana to help reduce the pain. Experts believe that her cannabis usage may have helped her create her famous dream-like paintings.

 

David Hockney (b.1937)

David Hockney is one of the most influential artists of this century. This British painter is known to have said that he sees “colors” in music. He is also known to be one of the artists who influenced the pop art style of the 1960s.

In 2015, Hockney mentioned that he held the California Medicinal Marijuana License which entitles him to use medicinal cannabis. He is known to have famously said that he has used weed for over 40 years and does not know anyone who has been harmed by it.

 

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)

Jean-Michel Basquiat was a painter who rose to fame during the Neo-Expressionism movement in the 1980s. He was known for his graffiti like images and scrawled texts that depicted poverty, racism, and the effects of classism and other power structures on society.

Since the age of 15, he used cannabis and other drugs. He took to excessive drug usage to cope with his friend, artist Andy Warhol’s death. The artist eventually overdosed on heroin at the young age of 27.

 

Fernando De La Rocque (b. 1979)

Fernando De La Rocque admitted to “using wine and weed” when asked what motivated and inspired his art. In 2012, this famous Brazilian artist exhibited artwork under the heading of Blow Job by Fernando de La Rocque which included a series of protest-inspired smoke paintings made using marijuana smoke.

 

Painters Who Smoked Marijuana: Final Thoughts

Some of these artists were famous for their drug use, but others may come as a surprise to you. And, as mentioned, with some of the above artists, their pot smoking is just speculation.

But it is speculation based on some evidence. Many lived in a time when smoking weed was not as accepted as it is today, so hiding their use was the best way to go for their reputation.