12. Grandma Moses was the ultimate late life success story, only finding success in the art world after she turned 78!
Soon after the art career of Anna Mary Robertson Moses took off, she gained the nickname ‘Grandma Moses’. And perhaps understandably so. After all, she was 78 when she started to paint seriously, even if she had harboured a passion for art and high culture for decades beforehand. Not only did she gain popular acclaim in her 80s and 90s, she also won critical acclaim. Her works were admired by New York critics and mid-Western housewives alike. She became a geriatric celebrity and to this day is held up as the ultimate example of enjoying success in later life.
Born in Greenwich Village in 1860, Moses spent most of her life as a housewife and housekeeper. Her time in the countryside meant she mainly painted scenes of rural life. At times, her employers encouraged and supported her hobby and then, when she reached her late-70s, Moses dedicated herself full-time to her paintings. She created 1,500 canvases over the course of 30 years. At first, she sold them for $5 each. But before long, she could charge $10,000 for a single work. In 2006, 40 years after her death, an original Grandma Moses sold for $1.2 million and many of the paintings she did in her 80s still hang on the walls of galleries across America.