The Artist's Mind

Explore a new side of artists whose work you know by considering their mental health state and the ways it may have shaped their works.



Anyone who considers themselves creative, who enjoys looking at art, or who finds comfort in art while living in our high-tech, high-stress era, will be intrigued by the mental-wellness issues that each artist has lived with.



--What's behind the idea that "madness" is linked to creativity?

--Does having an artistic temperament mean that creative people operate in a mental state different from the "norm"? --And why is art often used as therapy for mental illnesses?



The artists discussed in the main chapters and sidebars reflect a wide range of mental health topics, including anxiety and depression, substance abuse, bipolar conditions, body dysmorphia, disordered eating, institutional racism, and PTSD, among others.



Includes:

Albrecht Durer

Vincent van Gogh

Michelangelo Buonarotti

Francisco Goya

--Sidebar: Disability & Illness

Edvard Munch

--Sidebar: Influence on Contemporary Artists: Tracey Emin

Georgia O'Keeffe

Joan Miro

Alice Neel

--Sidebar: Artists and Suicide

Mark Rothko

Jacob Lawrence

Diane Arbus

Gustave Dor?

Frida Kahlo

Leonora Carrington

--Sidebar: Body Image and Art

Yayoi Kusama

--Sidebar: Institutional Racism & Trauma

Jean-Michel Basquiat

--Sidebar: Gender Identity and Dysphoria

Richard Dadd

Louis Wain

Aloise Corbaz

Agnes Martin