Saturn Devours His Son by Francisco Goya (March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828), one of six

disturbing works that decorated the dining room walls of his home in Spain, depicts the god
Saturn eating one of his children as the Roman myth tells. Some of the Black Paintings, of
which this painting is part of, were painted on the walls, covering some of Goya’s more uplifting
works. This came during a period where Goya, by then a recluse, was undergoing a physical
and mental breakdown possibly attributed to anything from viral encephalitis to Ménière's
disease. He may have also suffered from paranoid dementia. Goya died in 1828 at the age of
82.
The varied accounts behind Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent van Gogh (March 30,
1853 – July 29, 1890) generates much intrigue, and are perhaps more famous than his art. One
story takes place in late 1888, when his friend and fellow painter Paul Gauguin moved in with
him. By the end of the year, Van Gogh began to suffer from delusions and psychotic attacks. He
would eat his paints, hallucinate, and have seizures. During one of these seizures, Van Gogh
severed the bottom of his left ear. Gauguin moved out shortly after. Another story details an
argument between Gauguin and Van Gogh where Gauguin was threatened with a knife. Van
Gogh returned to his home and severed his ear, presenting it as a gift to a prostitute at his
favorite brothel. Suggested medical conditions of Van Gogh include epilepsy, bipolar disorder,
sunstroke, acute intermittent porphyria, lead poisoning and Ménière's disease. Depressed, Van
Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver in July of 1890 and died two days later.
Louis Wain (August 5, 1860 – July 4, 1939) is known for his paintings of detailed, anthropomorphic
cats partaking in human activities such as playing golf and chatting at a table. The above works
by Wain, said to be painted while institutionalized between 1924 and 1939, are widely speculated
to show a chronological order that illustrates Wain’s descent into Schizophrenia. These paintings
show a vastly different and more erratic painting style than what was seen of Wain before. If the
chronological order is indeed correct, one can see that his cats became more and more distorted
into geometric shapes as time went by. These five paintings can now be seen in various
Psychology textbooks to portray Wain’s change of style as his mental health deteriorated.
Karen Blair (1968 - ), a schizophrenic, categorizes her work by the years she was on particular
medication. The first painting, called Hell, was done while Blair was taking Risperdal between
1998 and 1999. It was painted in an abstract style and shows doctors working on a patient,
another patient wearing some type of machine on her head that registers a 7 on its gauge,
Humpty Dumpty falling off a brick wall, and other things. The second painting, What Jack Sees,
was painted by Blair while on Seroquil, which she has been taking since 2003. The dramatic
change in artistic style between the Risperdal and Seroquil is best explained by Blair herself:
“Make no mistake - these medications are powerful and they change consciousness. It is for you,
however, to determine the interplay of practice, psychosis, maturation, and medication in all of
my creations.”
Saint-Mary-Castle-Giant-Grape by Adolf Wölfli (1864 – 1930) is a prime example of horror vacui (literal
meaning: fear of empty spaces). Much of Wölfli’s work contains space filled up with writing, musical
notes, or two small holes that he called his “birds”. The musical notation are actual compositions rather
than decoration. Wölfli would play his songs on a paper trumpet. It is unknown where Wölfli learned
music, but it is said that his songs are difficult to play. Wölfli was orphaned at the age of 10 after
spending years being physically and sexually abused. Later in life, he was arrested twice on attempted
child molestation charges; on the second offense in 1895, he was admitted to the Waldau Clinic, a
psychiatric hospital in Switzerland, where he spent the rest of his life. Wölfli suffered from psychosis; he
would hallucinate intensely and become violent. After his death in 1930, his works were put on display at
the Waldau Clinic Museum.
The State Hospital by installation artist Edward Kienholz (October 23, 1927 – June 10, 1994) is, at first glance,
a giant box representing the outside of a room in Ward 19 of a state hospital. Behind the door with the
barred window is a scene that Kienholz, a former mental hospital employee, witnessed first-hand. Two
figures, identical in grotesque appearance, lie on a dirty, metal bunk bed, restrained at the wrists to the
frames by leather straps. The figure on the top bunk is surrounded by a neon thought bubble, suggesting that
the bottom figure is the only person in the room, reflecting on his sad situation. The figures’ heads are made
of fishbowls with a black fish swimming in each. A filthy bedpan sits, out of reach, on the floor. Kienholz
found inspiration for this piece from the subhuman conditions that the inmates at the hospital he worked in
were subjected to, which he was deeply affected by.
Richard Dadd (August 1, 1817 - January 7, 1886) is best known for the fairy-related paintings he
created while in a psychiatric hospital. The above work is Dadd’s most celebrated piece of art,
The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke, which was painted over the course of 1855 to 1864. Dadd
became delusional and violent in December of 1842 during a boat trip up the Nile River, which
he blamed on his becoming under the influence of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife. In
August of 1843, Dadd murdered his father, who he believed to be the Devil, and fled to France.
He was arrested en route to Paris and institutionalized in Bethlem Psychiatric Hospital, possibly
afflicted with paranoid schizophrenia. He died on January 7, 1886, of an acute lung disease.
The Maze by William Kurelek (March 3, 1927 - November 3, 1977) is best described by the artist himself: “The subject,
seen as a whole, is of a man (representing me) lying on a barren plain before a wheatfield, with his head split open. The
point of view is from the top of his head. The subject is then roughly divided into the left hand side of the picture, [with]
the thoughts made in his head represented as a maze; and the right hand side, the view of the rest of his body. The
hands and feet are seen through the eyes, nose and mouth, tapering off into the distance and the outside world.”
Kurelek was admitted to England’s Maudley Psychiatric Hospital in 1952 for depression and emotional problems, and
was treated for schizophrenia. While in the hospital, he painted The Maze as a representation of his unfortunate
childhood. Kurelek died in Toronto, Canada in 1977.
Untitled (1967) by Carlo Zinelli (1916–1974) was painted in a unique style that resembles graffiti. The
donkey-shaped silhouette is featured in several of Zinelli’s works. After 1962, he had begun to add words
to his paintings, but the text was mostly gibberish due to a speech disorder. Zinelli was committed to the
San Giacomo Psychiatric Hospital (Verona, Italy) in 1947, years after he suffered a mental breakdown
(caused by war trauma) and attacked a military captain, leading to his discharge. Zinelli suffered from
terrible hallucinations and an inability to use language. He would spend much of his time at the hospital
painting until it closed in 1971. Zinelli was transferred in 1971 to the Marzana Psychiatric Hospital, which
was met with great distress, and thus he began to paint much less frequently. This new hospital closed
quickly, and Zinelli was released to his family. He died of tuberculosis in 1974.
 For more information on the
aforementioned artists:
Francisco Goya: http://www.theartwolf.com/goya_black_paintings.htm
Vincent van Gogh: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
Louis Wain: http://www.cerebromente.org.br/gallery/gall_leonardo/fig1-a.htm
Adolf Wölfli: http://www.phylliskindgallery.com/self-taught/artbrut/aw/
Edward Kienholz: http://www.cat-sidh.net/Writing/Kienholz.html
Richard Dadd: http://www.noumenal.com/marc/dadd/
William Kurelek: http://blog.jonnay.net/archives/785-More-Scary-Insane-Awesome-Art-
William-Kureleks-The-Maze.html

Carlo Zinelli: http://www.jsaslowgallery.com/artists/zinelli/zinelli_index.html

Background music: Alma’s Music Box (from the video game F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin)