In very general terms, the brain can be thought of as comprised of two halves, the right half and the left half. The dominant half of the brain tends to define what type of thinker a person is. However, both parts of the brain are involved in all processes to some degree. The right half of the brain is where artistic ability is thought to be primarily based. Right brain dominant people are often described as creative, while left-brain dominant people are often described as logical.
A San Francisco-based University of California doctor, Dr. Bruce Miller, conducted a study at the start of the millennium which examined the development of artistic abilities in dementia patients. Brain scans revealed a consistency among the patients who were exhibiting this symptom. The commonality was damage to the left arterial temporal lobe. An Australian team later confirmed the connection of the area to artistry by temporarily turning it off in certain patients, who then exhibited increased abilities in drawing.
The frontal lobes are important for the creation of art. The frontal lobes play a role in the decision-making process that leads an artist to create and in his desire to work through the creation of a piece of art on a step-by-step basis. Louis Caplan of Harvard Medical School lists the frontal lobes as one of three areas of the brain he feels essential for the creation of art.
The visual cortex is a part of the brain contained within the larger cerebrum. This is the visual center of the brain but it does more than just take the images from the eyes and process them into thoughts. It also serves as the recognition center for all types of visual stimuli such as color or proportion. The recognition and processing of these types of visual stimuli plays a critical part in the recognition and creation of art.