How to Be a Muse: 12 Steps (with Pictures) (2024)

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Last Updated: August 5, 2021

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   Spend time with artists. Not every artist needs a muse, but throughout time many painters, photographers, writers, filmmakers and choreographers have attributed their best work to inspiration from someone special, often a fellow artist. Whether or not you make art yourself, if your social circle is full of creative types, you may end up becoming someone’s muse. Find out where the writers, artists and musicians in your town spend time and start becoming a regular there.

   • For example, the actress Edie Sedgwick hung around with Andy Warhol at his studio, The Factory, and they became very close friends. He was so struck by her beauty and presence that he created a series of films for her to star in and dubbed her his "superstar."
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   Discuss original ideas. Although there are examples of muses whose beauty alone served as inspiration (Vermeer’s anonymous Girl with the Pearl Earring, for example), muses are often just as creative as the artists they inspire. A muse is someone who engages the artist on an intellectual level, spurring him or her to run with creative ideas that someone else wouldn’t really understand. To be a muse, encourage the artist to explore more deeply, rather than pulling back. No discussion should be off-limits.

   • John Lennon and Yoko Ono were each other's muses in part because they were intellectually in sync. They had the same political goals and they believed the best way to reach people and change the world was through art. Thanks in part to their relationship, they gave the world some of the most innovative music, performance and visual art it had ever seen.^[1]
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   Be uninhibited. Rules, restrictions, and social norms can put a damper on creativity. It's impossible to think outside the box when you're constantly reminded of its perimeters. A muse helps the artist think beyond the confines of everyday life. When an artist is with his or her muse, things like financial constraints and social obligations go out the window, because what matters is creating something new. If you want to be a muse, help the artist let go of the baggage that weighs us down as humans and explore a different plane.

   • Many muses throughout history have had a carefree, wild spirit that captivates those around them. This was the case with Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, another pair of mutual muses who lived together in the East Village during the tumultuous 1970s. Smith's music and performance art and Mapplethorpe's photography changed the cultural landscape.
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   Be sexual. Though anyone can be a muse, the classic muse archetype is a beauty, a flirtatious, feminine spirit with an insatiable sex drive. Sexual arousal can help spur creativity, since it lowers inhibitions and charges the body and brain with erotic energy. From Gala Dali to Georgia O’Keeffe, countless muses have used the power of their sexuality to drive artists wild and inspire some of their most beautiful work. In many cases, the muse is years younger than the artist she inspires.

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   Have original style. You can be a muse without having a perfectly-proportioned body and a pretty face. Whatever it is that makes you different, play it up. An artist’s quest is to create something the world has never seen, something truly original. An artist’s muse is not just a model or mannequin, but a source of original energy and life. For example, Pablo Picasso's series of muses, including Dora Maar and Marie-Therese Walter, helped him see the human body in a new way and inspired him to share his insights with the world.

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   Make your own art. If you create your own art, you know what it means to harness an idea or feeling and express it through painting, words, dance, and so on. You understand the emptiness that comes with having a creative block, and the release when it’s lifted and you can finally create again with the help of outside inspiration. When you’re intimately familiar with how creativity ebbs and flows you can help someone else who is struggling.

   • August Rodin's muse was a fellow sculptor, Camille Claudel. He made some of his best and most famous works in her presence, feeling inspired by their shared passion. Unfortunately, Claudel didn't achieve the same fame and success as Rodin.

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   Let your imagination run wild. While having a muse can give you a new creative perspective, one's art shouldn't be dependent on someone else's influence. You can be your own inspiration if you set your imagination free. What creative ideas can you come up with by simply exploring the depths of your own mind? Do exercises that help release your creativity.

   • If you're feeling uninspired, shake things up in your life and try something completely new. Take a dance class or switch from painting to photography for awhile. Sometimes expressing yourself in a different way can open up new wells of creativity.
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   Pursue your original ideas. Instead of going along with others’ way of thinking, or judging your thoughts and casting them aside, model your art around your original ideas. Don’t let yourself be bound by constructs imposed by society or the institutions you were born into. Pursue all of your ideas, even the seemingly bad ones, to see where they lead. Be your own muse by letting yourself run with even the strangest concepts you come up with.

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   Explore your emotions more deeply. It's easy to stunt our own creative drives by refusing to let our emotions get the best of us. But some of the best art puts emotion on full display. Baring your soul's deepest feelings helps you connect with your audience in new and creative ways. Instead of trying to regulate your emotions to make them more manageable, let yourself feel them completely. Try making art when you're having a strong emotion, and see how your despair, anger or joy influences your work.

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   Have a liberated lifestyle. Thinking out of the box will help you feel more creative. If you stick to a strict schedule and your days are mostly predictable, when do you have time to be creative and free? Give yourself more opportunities to feel uninhibited creative energy instead of following the rules all the time.

   • If you could live on a little less money, consider giving up your nine to five job for something that gives you more flexibility.
   • Spend time with other people who value creativity as much as you do, so you don't feel you're doing something wrong by having a lifestyle outside of the social norm.
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   Interpret your dreams. Do you pay attention to your dream life? You can’t control your dreams (unless you’re adept at lucid dreaming), but paying more attention to them is a good way to tap into the side of your brain that’s free to be strange and unique.

   • Try writing down your dreams as soon as you wake up. That way you'll remember them better and you'll be able to use them as source material for your art.
   • Connect what happens in your dreams to waking life experiences and emotions, and see what you can learn from your dreams.
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   Use your experiences as material. Your relationships, routines, encounters, reactions and observations can all feature into your artwork. Find original material in your daily existence. Explore your memories and history, your personality and preferences, and get inspired by your own way of seeing the world. There's no one else in the world quite like you. Tap into what makes you unique and be your own muse.^[2]

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