Alfred Kubin was born in Bohemia in 1877. He was a painter, draughtsman and writer. He tells us that the same psychic force which made him dream and play pranks in childhood, later made him ill, and finally brought him to art. His art was closely bound up with his dream life. Thus he wrote a novel called Die Andere seite, this book is about a dream realm to which those people can go who cannot cope with the actualities of life. Through his dreams he came to the conclusion that we are 'only spooks of the real person who lies much deeper.' In certain drawings made after the death of his wife he tried to fix the 'dark pale atmosphere of the dream realm.' These attempts he aptly calls 'psycho-graphs'.

When Kubin's work is compared to his history, it is most obvious that the experiences of childhood governed all the various forms of art which he practised. At the same time he felt art to be a safety valve for the dark powers of the unconscious which threatened to overwhelm him.