Schizophrenic Art and Its Relationship to Modern Art*

When the pain is so intense that it no longer has access to the level of consciousness, when the thoughts are so dispersed that they are no longer understood by fellow men, when the most vital contacts with the world are cut off, even then the spirit of man does not succumb, and the urge to create may persist. The search, the appeal, the anguish, the revolt, the wish may all be there, and can be recognized in the fog of the emotional storm and within the crumbling of the cognitive structure.

In this paper, which consists of excerpts from a chapter of the forthcoming second edition of my book Interpretation of Schizophrenia, in press, I shall present some of these shouts and whimpers, some of these messages, full of statics and interruptions, as represented by paintings and drawings of schizophrenic patients.

I must warn the reader about some limitations of this work. Those who expect an aesthetic treat are bound to be disappointed. My report will disclose more pathology than art, more turmoil than beauty. A second limitation, which, however, involves only some patients, derives from my not having treated them and having to rely on the available medical records. A third limitation, even more regrettable, concerns the fact that a few of these patients crossed the path of my life long ago, when neither I, as a resident or a very young psychiatrist, nor my colleagues, were able