Keen artist recalled depression (6)
I believe the answer is:
ardent
'keen' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist recalled depression' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'recalled' says the letters should be written backwards.
'depression' becomes 'dent' ('dent' can be a synonym of 'depression'**).
'ra' back-to-front is 'ar'.
'ar'+'dent'='ARDENT'
(Other definitions for ardent that I've seen before include "Ranted, being passionate" , "Warm and loving" , "Burning, passionate" , "Intensely enthusiastic" , "'Fervent, impassioned (6)'" .)