然而生活对一个没有名气的画家来说并不容易。他选择新的绘画主题，开始展示生活中的挣扎。有那么几年，他画的都是城市中的贫民，那些瘦弱、饥饿、疲惫、生病和失明的男男女女，色调暗淡。大多数画使用了深深浅浅的蓝色，画家的所见所感一览无遗。这些“蓝调时期”的作品充满了怜悯和失望。
成功并没有让毕加索等待太久。他开始售出自己的画作，并逐渐成为公认的画家，作品的色调也温暖了起来。同时他的绘画手法开始表现出越来越多的自由和独立性。他开始以更简单的方式和图形来诠释人物与情景，不再试图让作品照搬现实生活。
这种效果刚开始看起来怪异而不真实，画面难于理解。无论是人物头像，还是自然景观或普通物体，他都以同样的方式去表现，好像这些事物最重要的就是形状。这一绘画风格影响了其他许多画家，被称为“立体画派”。
这种新的风格有时给人以恐惧感，这使毕加索频遭抨击。这一风格的作品好似我们的某些梦魇。有了照相机，画家们已经没有必要去准确再现他们看到的事物。照相机对真实生活的准确反映更胜一筹。好的绘画作品呈现给我们的是某个人眼里的生活，而每个人的视角都是不同的。
毕加索的有些画色泽丰富、柔和、优美怡人；其他的画则用黑色勾出凌厉的轮廓，显得丑陋、冷酷、怪异。但是这些画却使我们对世界的观察更加敏锐，因为它们迫使我们自问：“他看到了什么才画出这样的画？”然后我们开始透过事物的表面去审视内在的东西。
毕加索创作了成千上万幅风格各异的作品，有时他表现的是事物的本来面目，有时好似将事物掰成了一块块的。他决意向我们表现的既有目之所见，也有心之所感。终其一生，他对这个世界一直保持着年轻时的好奇。
I Live Entirely in My Music：Beethoven
Beethoven probably began to go deaf after what he called his ‘terrible typhus’of 1797，but he tried to keep it a secret，while consulting doctors and trying various remedies，such as the application of almond oil.He was extremely anxious about its possible effect on his career as a musician，and embarrassed by its effect on his social life.
In the summer of 1801he wrote to two friends.To Franz Wegeler in Bonn he wrote that he was very busy，with more commissions than he could cope with，and publishers competing to get hold of his latest works，but he was worried about his health，and particularly about his gradual loss of hearing.He had been leading a miserable life for the previous two years because of his deafness，and had avoided human company because he found it hard to tell people that he was deaf.He would always say，“I live entirely in my music.”
Two days later he wrote to Karl Amenda，a more recent friend.On the same lines，expressing the anxiety that his best years would pass “without my being able to achieve all that my talent and my strength have commanded me to do.”His fear that his deafness would prevent him from realizing his artistic potential led him to contemplate taking his own artistic life，but in the socalled Heiligenstadt Testament，addressed to his brothers and found among his papers after his death，which he wrote in the depths of despair in October 1802，he said that he had rejected suicide，and was resigned to his condition.He explained that his deafness was the reason why he had been withdrawing from people’s company，because he found it so humiliating not being able to hear，but he did not want to tell people about it.Although tempted to kill himself，“the only thing that held me back was my art.For indeed it seemed to me impossible to leave this world before I had produced all the works that I felt the urge to compose.”
During the summer of 1802he had spent six months in Heiligenstadt，thirteen miles outside Vienna，on the advice of one of his doctors who thought that his hearing might improve in the peace and quiet away from Vienna.But his pupil，Ferdinand Ries （son of the leader of the Bonn court orchestra）visited him in the summer，and during a walk in the summer，and during a walk in the woods pointed out o fan elder twig.Beethoven could not hear it，and this made him very morose，as the winter approached he realized that his hearing was no better，and that it was likely to get worse，and he might end up totally deaf.
It could be argued that Beethoven’s deafness helped the development of his art：isolated from the world，and unable to perform，he could devote all his time to composing，He was already composing less at the piano，and the first of his bound sketchbooks，in which he made detailed drafts of the works in progress.Date from 1798.In his panic，at the beginning，Beethoven may have believed himself to be deaf.He suffered from tinnitus （humming and buzzing in the ears），and loud noises caused him pain.In 1804his friend Stephan von Breuning，with whom he briefly shared lodgings，wrote to Franz Wegler about the terrible effect his gradual loss of hearing was having on Beethoven：it had caused him to distrust his friends，and he was becoming very difficult to be with.But Beethoven did not start using an ear trumpet until 1814.
But above all else，Beethoven was dedicated to his art and the urge to compose remained with him throughout his life.It may be that he shielded away from the commitment of marriage because he knew it would interfere with his art.From a very early age he wanted to compose and，although he needed to earn a living，he wrote：“I love my art too dearly to be activated solely by selfinterest.”
我沉醉在音乐中：贝多芬
贝多芬开始失聪大概是在1797年，在染上他称为“可怕的斑疹伤寒”后，但他想尽量保密，同时去看医生并试了各种疗法，如使用杏仁油。作为一名音乐家，这对他的事业所可能产生的影响使他感到极度忧虑，同时这对他社会生活的影响令他十分难堪。
1801年夏他致信给两位朋友。在给波恩的弗朗茨·韦格勒的信中他说他很忙，创作疲于应付，出版商争着要得到他的新作，但是他担心自己的身体，特别是担心听觉渐渐在丧失。在前两年由于他的失聪，生活开始变得痛苦，同时他避免与他人在一起，因为他不愿告诉别人他聋了。他常常说：“我完全沉醉在音乐中。”
两天后他写信给卡尔·阿曼达，一位新结识的朋友，在同样的字里行间，他表示他担心自己的黄金岁月将在“我没有凭才能和力量取得我应得的成就”中度过去时。他担心失聪会使他无法发挥艺术潜能，这种想法导致他去考虑结束自己的艺术生命，但是1802年10月，他在极度绝望中写给弟兄们的所谓“海黎詹斯登遗嘱”里说，他已放弃自杀的念头，愿意顺其自然，这是他死后在他的书稿中找到的。他解释说耳聋是他远离众人的缘由，因为他觉得失去听力是非常丢人的，可他又不想被别人知道。尽管他想自杀，“惟一能阻止我的是我的艺术。说真的在我没有把我觉得立即该谱的曲子都创作出来之前，我不能离开这个世界。
1802年夏，他已在距维也纳十三英里的海黎詹斯登度过了六个月，这是按照他的一名医生的建议，认为待在维也纳郊外平静的地方有助于他听力的恢复。但他的学生斐迪南·雷斯（波恩宫廷乐队头头的儿子）那年夏天去拜访他，并一起在树林里散步时，他指着一个正用稍稍长成的树枝做的笛子吹奏的牧羊人。贝多芬却听不到，这使他非常郁闷。到了那年冬天，他意识到他的听觉不但不见好转，而且还可能每况愈下，以至彻底失聪。
有人说贝多芬的失聪帮他提高了他的艺术：与世界隔绝，无法演出，他得以全身心地投入创作。他创作的钢琴曲本已越来越少，在他装帧过的概要手册的第一册中，他详细地做了从1798年起的作品计划纲要。他一开始，忐忑不安的贝多芬就认为自己多半会变聋，他饱受耳鸣的痛苦（耳朵里嗡嗡作响），巨大的噪音使他痛苦不堪。1804年，他的朋友斯蒂文·冯·勃鲁宁曾与他共同住过一段时间，这位朋友在写给弗朗茨·韦格勒的信中说，贝多芬听力的逐渐丧失给了他可怕的影响：这使他不再信任他的朋友，同时别人也很难与他相处。但贝多芬直到1814年才开始戴助听器。
但无论怎样，贝多芬献身于艺术并且一生致力于作曲。他避开结婚可能是因为他认为这会对他的艺术造成阻碍。早年时他就希望创作，尽管他需要维持生计，但他写道：“我深爱我的艺术，我绝不会为一己之利所驱使。”