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The autoplastic nature of the psychotic's derangement enters unaltered into his artistic productions, but, in the hands of a great artist, the same autoplastic element is converted into a work of art. (K. R. Eissler (5))
Vaslav Nijinsky was one of the most famous dance artists of this century, and perhaps of all time. I shall examine the course of his paranoid schizophrenia as it seems to have developed in relation to his unique endowments and special life circumstances. No attempt will be made to argue or to imply that Nijinsky's talents and his illness are in a cause-and-effect relation. I shall, however, point up the dovetailing of characteristics within Nijinsky's personality which made it possible for him at one time to communicate with the world in universal terms, and at other times made it impossible for him to communicate at all.
During the first 30 years of his life, Nijinsky trained, performed and choreographed. For the next 30 years, he was a chronic schizophrenic. The brilliance of his career, the unusual combination of personality, physical prowess, and creativity, within the special circumstances of his life and illness, challenge the psycho-biographer. In taking up this challenge, I found it necessary to read between the lines of the writings of friends, enemies, critics and family members who have described, reminisced, and romanticized, and who in many cases have entered into public polemics with one another about the authenticity of certain reports. In sifting through the available source material, and in estimating or intuiting some facets of Nijinsky's personality, I have relied on psychiatric literature and on my own observations both in and outside of mental institutions.