Is the art greater than the artist?

I had a long discussion with my uncle yesterday about this. Is the art greater than the artist? Should we neglect personal flaws and evils of an artist and appreciate his/her art?

The discussion/debate started with V. S. Naipaul. As you all know, he is a Nobel laureate for literature. I highly admire his writing skills and have read many of his works. The point of discussion was his confessions in his biography The World Is What It Is, about abusing his wife. He says "I think that consumed her. I think she had all the relapses and everything after that. She suffered. It could be said that I killed her. It could be said. I feel a little bit that way".

His wife Patricia, was suffering from cancer. Naipaul confesses of inflicting mental cruelty on her. Naipaul blatantly boasted of extra-marital affairs and visiting prostitutes in one of his interviews and this humiliation and stress caused severe downfall of Patricia's health.

The question is, 'Is it moral to continue to admire the author once you know how horrible his personal life is?'

I took the stand of placing art higher than an individual. I argued that I would still continue to read his work and admire him because of his literary works and not personal life.

But the crimes that he has committed towards an innocent, suffering woman are really despicable. I wish he were as good a person as a writer.