These are Louis Wain’s Cats!
In this short article we will look at the connection between mental illness and art.
Louis Wain was a British artist (1860-1939) famous for drawing cats. Later on in life he developed a mental illness, commonly believed to be schizophrenia. Although never diagnosed, people believe that by looking at his earlier and later anthropomorphic portrayals of cats, one can see his psychotic deterioration allegedly due to schizophrenia. While this claim is highly controversial and was popularized by Francis Reitman’s book Psychotic Art (1951), Louis Wain’s work can be seen both as an expression of the artist but can also potentially be viewed as an expression of his mental illness.
According to DSM-5, schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder characterized by disturbances in though, perception and behavior. By simply looking at this collage of Louis Wain’s drawings of cats, from earlier to later works, we do see a disturbance in his perception of how cats looked like to him. Or, it could just simply be a new level of creativity. We’ll never know as the artist passed away in the psychiatric ward of Bethlem Royal Hospital in London. The work he left behind still brings joy and wonderment to our eyes today.
Watch the video presentation:
Happy International Cat Day (August 8th)!
