This review provides a brief overview of key historical, conceptual and empirical aspects of the link between creativity and psychosis. The genius and his or her tendency to madness constitute the historical backbone of this link, although ambiguous interpretations and substantial conceptual change characterise this mad genius hypothesis. Some empirical findings show high levels of creativity among first-degree relatives of patients with psychotic illness. For schizophrenia, this could be seen as support of a creative potential in premorbid traits, such as self-disorders and disturbed common sense.