Categories

Ingrid Bergman, candid portrait sitting by the sea holding a drink

Continuous Artistic Growth – The Expansive Mindset Of Ingrid Bergman

I belong to this make make-believe world of film and theatre. I never want to leave it.” – Ingrid Bergman

Continuous artistic growth requires an expansive mindset. That is;  staying curious, enjoying novelty and risk, for these are the drivers of our creativity. They lead us to set ourselves new and meaningful artistic intentions, and in reaching for these new intentions we break through our old boundaries and enter into a new world. Should we settle into a comfortable and permanent position, our creativity withers, and our artistic growth eventually ceases – we die as artists.

Actors who become great, or, to put it another way, actors who become artists are those who possess the expansive mindset along with the energy, the desire and a romantic and adventurous soul to maintain it throughout their lives. They never settle, they ask new questions of themselves and of their work. This instinct for the new guides the evolution of their work. They reject the hackneyed, the careerist, the formulaic and the comfortable. For them, boredom is the yawning groan of stagnation – their soul yearns to move on and fear is their inspiration. Finally,  this process of risk and adventure is their purpose, and the creation of a meaningful body of work is the result.

Ingrid Bergman is an example of such an actor. 

Her early, youthful success in the cinema of her native Sweden lead to her first great, expansive leap – to Hollywood, after an invitation from David O. Selznick. It turned out to be a wise move because there followed a run of classic pictures and iconic performances [including two for Alfred Hitchcock]. A switch to Hollywood by an actor whose star was in the ascendent may not seem like much of a risk. But what came next reveals a lot more about Bergman’s attitude towards her work. After ten years, Bergman complained that Hollywood had begun to feel like “a prison”. She discovered the neorealist cinema of Roberto Rossellini, and saw in him a very great artist. Bergman’s now famous correspondance with him, lead to her escape from Hollywood, to Italy, where her collaboration and relationship with Rossellini began. Bergman could’ve stayed in Hollywood, plodding along, churning out solid, silverscreen fayre. But she chose not to. She was driven to leave her successful Hollywood life because she was piqued by Rossellini’s neorealist aesthetic – it inspired her to ask a new question of herself and of her work: ‘could I be as real as that?‘ – she dropped Tinseltown and made her second leap in order to answer the question.

This expansive pattern continued throughout the rest of her life. She made four features with Rossellini, and although they were not as well received as some of her American work, they were nonetheless aesthetically important, affecting filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini. After eight years in Italy, she switched to France and the Parisien stage. Twenty years later, Bergman made another leap, this time across the Channel to London. Finally, in 1978, aged 63, Bergman delivered one her greatest performances in what was to be her last film, Autumn Sonata, directed by her namesake, Ingmar. Again, she was driven to do so, even at the very end, by another question; ‘can I still do it?

 

 

FURTHER READING

Be Comfortable Not Knowing
Csikszentmihalyi’s Creativity
Being An Actor By 5 Greats

 

RESOURCES

Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words [documentary]
Exchange of letters between Bergman and Rossellini initiating their collaboration

 

Subscribe to The Great Acting Blog

 

James

28Comments
  • avatar

    information from Sealine Products/ 24.04.2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Info on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    Legacy Planner/ 29.08.2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    Jav/ 04.10.2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    ks pod/ 12.10.2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Info on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    app de filmes e séries grátis/ 14.11.2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More Information here on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    relax/ 24.11.2023

    relax

    relax

  • avatar

    หวยออนไลน์/ 12.12.2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    pk789 สล็อต/ 02.01.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    วิธีเปิดบัญชี forex/ 29.01.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 17574 additional Info to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    จดทะเบียน อย/ 30.01.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 21085 more Info to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    you can try this out/ 13.02.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    งานสแตนเลส/ 29.02.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    ร้านดอกไม้อารีย์/ 13.04.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More Info here to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    trustbet/ 26.05.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you can find 35000 more Information to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    ตกแต่งภายในหาดใหญ่/ 08.06.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    namo333/ 01.07.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 29008 additional Information on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    กฎหมายภาษี/ 07.07.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    เว็บปั้มไลค์/ 04.08.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 80395 more Information to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    กระเบื้องยาง SPC ราคา/ 18.08.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Info on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    แทงหวยไทยออนไลน์ เดิมพันง่าย ซื้อได้ทุกเลข ขั้นต่ำ 1 บาท/ 27.08.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    sell drugs/ 12.09.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    Atrius Select-Fire Assisted Reset Trigger/ 14.09.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More Info here to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    Buy browning a5 ultimate  Online/ 21.09.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More Info here to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    dultogel slot/ 28.09.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 26608 more Info on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    พิมพ์นามบัตรด่วน/ 29.09.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    เช่าเครื่องสเลอปี้/ 03.10.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More to that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    จำหน่ายอะไหล่อุตสาหกรรม/ 10.10.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] There you can find 55688 more Info on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]

  • avatar

    car detailing/ 10.10.2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More Information here on that Topic: jamesdevereaux.com/continuous-artistic-growth-the-expansive-mindset-of-ingrid-bergman/ […]