alt Hacker NewsSure. But it is also obvious that you cannot possibly know that he hadn't painted ANYTHING before that.
All of that misses the forest for the trees, which is he did it at an incredibly young age!
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fwip • yesterday at 6:12 PM
You could find, for example, a journal entry attesting that it was his first painting he'd ever done. (Either his own, or by somebody who knew him). While that's not proof, it's at least reason to believe that it is his first.
As far as I can tell, nobody in this case is claiming that it is or even might be the first, except the headline, which makes the headline misleading.
It is less obvious than you think. Obvious to you and me, perhaps. But a significant portion of the population genuinely believes that you are born with the talent to just do this like it's nothing, or born with the talent to be a piano prodigy, etc, and as a result never bother to apply themselves, even though with the wealth of educational resources available today anyone[1] could make paintings of this quality if they were to put in the effort to learn. I think that article headlines that reinforce this popular misconception are rather damaging.
[1] Given the level of pedantry on this site, I suppose I should say "almost anyone", since a small minority of people with severe disabilities may not be able to.