There is one truism: a real artist does not strive for fame. However, in order for their work to be seen, read or heard, artists, writers and performers still need an audience. The wider the audience, the stronger the influence and fame of the master. Alas, not all talented people in our history were destined to become famous during their lifetime - some received well-deserved fame and recognition throughout the world only after their death. 
1. Charles Bukowski 
Charles Bukowski is a prime example of a writer whose literary genius went unnoticed during his lifetime. His work only gained recognition and fame towards the end of his life, and decades after his death. He was born in 1920 in Germany and spent most of his life working in the post office in Los Angeles, USA. His literary works have always been distinguished by harsh realism. He was first noticed only after the publication of his autobiographical novel The Post Office in 1971, when he was 51 years old. He died of leukemia in 1994, and was just beginning to break into the literary world. Now, three decades after his death, Bukowski is considered a literary icon.
2. Johann Sebastian Bach 
The works of the famous German composer Johann Sebastian Bach remained virtually unnoticed while he was alive. Although he excelled as an organist and made a great contribution to the development of music in Europe, his talent as a composer was recognized only after his death. It was only in the 19th century, with a renewed interest in the Baroque era, that Bach's musical genius was finally recognized. He made a kind of revolution in music, adding Italian and French motifs to his works.
3. Henry Thoreau 
Henry Thoreau is considered one of the deepest thinkers, philosophers and brilliant writers - but this was not always the case. Due to his unconventional ideas, unconventional thinking and some degree of anarchism, he became alienated from 19th century society. Throughout his life he remained virtually unknown in the literary world: his works had difficulty finding publishers, and he even financed the publication of some of them himself. After his death, Thoreau left only two officially published works. Some of them, such as Civil Disobedience (1849), continue to inspire great leaders. And his reflections on nature, to which Thoreau attached much importance, inspire artists and philosophers to take a fresh look at it. However, Thoreau's genius was recognized only a century after his death.
4. Claude Monet 
Although the French painter Claude Monet became one of the founders of impressionism, his life was not easy. When he painted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he was often criticized, with his work being called unfinished and "formless." Monet faced condemnation and the art world did not accept him, which is why his family lived in poverty. Only starting in the 1880s, a decade later, his works began to be sold little by little. Despite his modest success, fellow artists still criticized him and accused him of commercialism. Only later did the world learn that Monet suffered from partial blindness: this can be seen in his later paintings, where bright figures have blurred shapes. His masterpiece "Impression. Rising Sun" marked the beginning of a new artistic movement, and in his works he showed that the true nature of the landscape is constantly changing. He also gained his fame only after his death.
5. Jan Vermeer 
The paintings of Jan Vermeer, a Dutch painter, are considered the pinnacle of Dutch art from the Golden Age. Not much is known about his early life. After the death of his father, he took over the family art business, and soon began painting himself. His works depicted mainly the provincial middle class, rather than the church or nobility, as was common in those days. In 1675, Vermeer began working as a painter in Amsterdam, but due to lack of sales he fell into debt. After Vermeer's death, art historians did not pay much attention to his paintings for 200 years, although some experts in the Netherlands appreciated his work. Additionally, many of his works have been erroneously attributed to more famous artists. It was only when his painting “Allegory of Painting” was noticed by the art critic Gustav Friedrich Waagen that he demanded that Vermeer’s work be officially recognized.
6. Emily Dickinson 
During the lifetime of the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), only ten of her 1,800 works were published. In addition, the published poems underwent significant changes to conform to the rules of the era. The poetess's talent and unique style were recognized only after her death. It is known that Dickinson deliberately hid her collection of poems from the public eye. There were legends about her loneliness: she rarely received visitors, carried on friendly correspondence and did not even leave her bedroom. The poetess's first collection was published four years after her death, in 1890. Although initially harshly criticized, Dickinson has come to be considered one of the greatest American poets of all time over the ensuing decades and to this day.
7. Edgar Allan Poe 
American writer Edgar Allan Poe is known for his dark, mystical stories and poetry. His difficult life had a deep influence on the writer. He was born in 1809, his father abandoned the family, his mother died of tuberculosis, and his brother soon died. His first wife, Virginia, died just four years after they married. For most of his life, Poe did not achieve success or worldwide recognition, although he wrote about 70 stories, 50 poems and ten essays. Due to financial difficulties, he had a drinking problem and unfortunately his life ended sadly. In 1849, he was found in a tavern in a severe semi-conscious state, and he soon died. The circumstances and cause of the writer’s death remain unclear to this day.
8. Jeff Buckley 
Jeff Buckley was born in 1966 in the family of the legendary American folk singer Tim Buckley. During his short life, Buckley actively tried to prove himself as a musician, but despite his obvious talent, his star never rose during his lifetime. It was only after his untimely death, when 30-year-old Buckley drowned in the Mississippi River, that the world learned about his songs and voice. Great success came with the release of his debut album "Grace" in 1994, three years after his death.
9. Herman Melville 
American writer Herman Melville is best known as the author of the classic novel Moby Dick (1851). However, he experienced many failures throughout his life. His first book, Typee (1846), attracted the attention of fellow writers, but fame and success largely eluded him. His best - and by far the most famous - works were not recognized during his lifetime. Melville died in 1891, almost forgotten, and only in the 1920s was he recognized as a classic of world literature.
10. El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) 
Spanish painter of Greek origin Domenikos Theotokopoulos is better known as El Greco. During his lifetime, in the 16th century, he did not receive such recognition as after his death. The artist lived in Italy and Spain, where he painted icons, absorbing the styles of various masters, including Titian and Tintoretto. He was also heavily influenced by Michelangelo, and even criticized him, saying that he had no drawing skills. El Greco's paintings were treated with criticism and disdain for several generations after his death - they did not correspond to the principles of the early Baroque. Only in the 18th century did his talent receive deserved recognition.
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