An upcoming exhibition at the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital showcases art inspired by patients’ dreams and nightmares.
Opening in August at the UK’s Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Between Sleeping and Waking features art from the 19th century to the present: One work, drawn by an arsonist held in the “criminal lunatic department” between 1829 to 1838, shows a “mad pen-and-ink depiction” of London’s “destruction due to godlessness,” The Guardian wrote.
Another exhibitor is former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s late mother who created dozens of paintings during her eight months at Bethlem’s sister institution: “I couldn’t talk about my problems, but I could paint them,” Charlotte Johnson-Wahl said later.