The forties seventies and the nineties when money was scarce were great periods when the art world retracted but it was also reborn.

As I've gotten older I've occasionally found myself nostalgic for earlier periods of solitude though I realize that's also likely a false nostalgia as I know there was nothing I wanted more during those periods than to not be alone whatever that means.

Probably nothing serious or worthwhile can be accomplished without one's willingness to be alone for sustained periods of time which is not to say that one must live alone obsessively.