The 20th century is called an age of contradictions. It was accompanied by psychoanalysis, working on the borderline between conscious and unconscious. In the 20th century the art of painting focused on the contradiction between visible and hidden meanings, too. This poster shows a selection of paintings and portraits created by Austrian artists, some of them physicians themselves. It demonstrates, that art is persuing the same issue as psychoanalysis.
Why should the "image" of physicians in the painting of the 20th Century be studied? Did their reputation, self-esteem and appearance change in public view in those 100 years? And if so, how and why? Which kind of representation and self-representation were chosen earlier and which today? Are the paintings on which members of the medical profession are represented, whether as portraits, whether in the exercise of their profession, representative for the medical profession of modern age?
Are the ambiguous demands on physicians reflected in the artistic representations?
A quite important question concerns the motivation. Why do physicians paint? One part of the "medical" art, which I will present in this work, was done by physicians, that means by "insiders". From a psychological point of view I think it's justified and interesting, because we find the special – sometimes unconscious - requirements for the doctor in his painting. Maybe the "artistic work"and creativity while painting has a salutary effect on the "doctor's soul". The great tension, which must be incorporated in the medical profession, can be projected into art and has a feedback effect on the doctor - painter. Is the confrontation with illness and death on the road of resuscitation the antithesis of creativity and vitality?
ART OF HEALING AND ART OF PAINTING | 7,75 Mb |