From his art to his life: An insight into Cihat Burak

Cihat Burak (1915-1994) is one of the important artists of the twentieth century. He has artworks in different fields such as painting, literature and architecture. The source of Cihat Burak's artworks is widely his daily life. There are similarities between his artworks in different fields in terms of both theme and production styles. It is inevitable that artworks coming from the same mind will have similarities with each other. However, considering the intensity of Cihat Burak's art, focusing on these similarities is of critical importance in understanding him and his art. The main claim of this study is that these intense connections between his life, his artworks and the creative production process are one of the elements that make Cihat Burak and his art unique. To understand Cihat Burak and his art, biographical articles written about the artist and research on his life and artworks are undoubtedly important. However, when it comes to someone like Cihat Burak, whose art and life are intertwined, our starting point is primarily his art. Therefore, the direction of our insight has been determined to be from his art to his life. At this point, general questions about the subject of the philosophy of art, such as why people produce art, how the artist establishes a relationship with himself and life and how the creative process takes place, have determined our perspective. German philosopher F. W. J. Schelling's philosophy of art plays a critical role in terms of addressing the interconnectedness between the artist's life and works and explaining it with concepts. The creative production process explained systematically by Schelling has allowed us to think about Cihat Burak and his art through the general designs provided by the concepts and to express our thoughts.