Directed by Amélie Ravalec, Art & Mind is a journey into art, madness and the unconscious, an exploration of visionary artists and the creative impulse.

The theme of madness inspired artists since the Middle-Ages to create truly magnificent paintings: the “Stone of Madness” by Hieronymus Bosch and the Flemish Masters, the apocalyptic visions of Pieter Bruegel, compelling depictions of asylums by Goya and countless portraits of madness including Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear.

Art & Mind traces the advances in the understanding of the human mind and its influences on art. The emergence of the unconscious inspired Romantic artists to explore the hidden realms of dreams and visions in their art. Emerging psychology theories of Sigmund Freud and his contemporaries later became a major source of inspiration for the Surrealists.

The border between visionary creation and madness is sometimes tenuous, and many artists experienced bouts of madness. Van Gogh cut his own ear while confined in a psychiatric hospital, William Blake had conversations with dead poets, Goya was hearing voices and Munch was convinced of being condemned into madness since birth. The Surrealists Leonora Carrington, Unica Zürn and Antonin Artaud also spent time confined in asylums and captured their experiences of madness in their art.

Stories of outsider artists are just as inspiring, ranging from the 45-volumes magnum opus of Adolf Wölfli to the compelling portraits of schizophrenia by Bryan Charnley. Art & Mind unveils the history of Art Brut, from its foundations in the dark corners of Victorian asylums to being exhibited in the world’s finest galleries, museums and private collections.

Featuring artists Hieronymus Bosch, Francisco Goya, Vincent Van Gogh, William Blake, Edvard Munch, Salvador Dali and many more.

Featuring interviews with art historians, artists, museum curators, psychiatrists, neuroscientists; and over 350 artworks from prestigious museums and collections worldwide including Tate Britain, Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Prinzhorn Collection, Rijksmuseum, La Halle Saint Pierre, ABCD Collection, Outsider Art Fair, Wellcome Collection, Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Lombroso Museum, Freud Museum, MAHHSA, Lille Métropole Museum of Contemporary and Outsider Art, Maisons Victor Hugo, Adamson Collection, Museum Dr Guislain, Henry Boxer Gallery and Museum Im Lagerhaus.

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Art & Mind - Official Film Trailer - Amélie Ravalec from Amélie Ravalec on Vimeo.