The link between artistic creativity and psychopathology: Salvador Dalí

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Abstract

Throughout history, some of the most prominent artists have been linked to mental illness. Salvador Dalí, the well-known Surrealist artist, was ‘famous’ for his ‘craziness’ in both his shocking art and persona. Information on his behaviour and art comes from various sources such as his autobiography; literary texts; published interviews with friends, family, and the artist himself; letters; and data on his family history. Here, in addition to a descriptive analysis of such data, a formal diagnosis exercise was attempted, using two psychiatric assessment procedures: a computer program investigating the presence of psychotic disorder (OPCRIT) and a personality disorder questionnaire (PDQ-R). Dalí was found to meet the diagnostic criteria for several DSM Cluster A and Cluster B personality disorders, as well as for psychotic illnesses. However, these results should be treated with caution, given the ‘hall of mirrors’ Dalí inhabited and the deliberate persona he projected on to the world.

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Foreword

Although there is a wealth of literature on Salvador Dalí, nobody has attempted fully to investigate the truth behind his supposed ‘madness’. Many rash, opinionated and conflicting comments have been made in books and essays which often lack explanation or evidence. Opinions are generally split. Individuals either perceive the artist to have been a bizarre and mentally disturbed individual, or a compulsive and manipulative liar who feigned his own madness in order to gain success. Discussion

Artistic creativity and psychopathology

The relationship between creativity and psychopathology in visual artists has received rather less attention than in, say, writers. But some work has been reported. On the basis of biographical material Karlsson (1970) found the rate of psychosis in great painters to be 35%, well above that for ‘normal’ people (∼2%). Similarly, Schildkraut, Hirschfeld, and Murphy (1996) reported that affective disorders were 10 times more prevalent and the rate of suicidal behaviour three times greater in a

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí could be described as a philosopher, theorist, lecturer, architect, jeweller, inventor, set and costume designer, novelist, poet, cinema producer and one of the most successful artists of all time. He was continuously creative and his worldwide success is evidence that his productions are appreciated and valued greatly. Yet Dalí is as much known for his bizarre behaviour and eccentricity as for his artistic output. He and his art were reflections of one and other: he lived and

Dalí and Surrealism

Surrealism was a revolutionary, subversive movement that aimed at changing the world by tapping and liberating the forces latent in the psyche. Artists were psychoanalytically orientated and used techniques such as automatism as a method of transferring the unconscious onto canvas without any disturbance from consciousness. They adopted Freud as their patron saint and the group leaned heavily on the idea of ‘shock through paradox’. Why did Dalí choose to join the Surrealist movement? What

Attempting a formal diagnosis

‘It is not necessary for me psychoanalysis,
because I am not crazy. You see my kind of
craziness is one craziness of precision and clarity,
to the contrary of a psychopathalogical’s craziness.’
Salvador Dalí in an interview with Mike Wallace (on WABC-TV, 1956)
As a final stage in this study of Dalí it was decided to subject all of the material collected about him to formal diagnostic assessment. It goes without saying that such an exercise is fraught with dangers of error, exaggeration, and

Conclusions

Even if the formal diagnostic descriptions just presented are discounted as taking the judgment of Dalí’s psychology a ‘step too far’, from all of the evidence presented here it is difficult to escape the conclusion that he was a highly unusual personality, with traits and possible predispositions to mental illness that are consistent with connections that are known to exist with creativity. Dalí could be classed as an extreme artist and could never be defined as a ‘normal’ individual. No

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor Gordon Claridge for his constant encouragement, support, and interest throughout and Helen Roberts and Kathleen Murphy for performing the tedious job of proofreading each draft. For their helpful comments and opinions thanks are due to: Gavin Parkinson (Lecturer in the History of Art, University of Oxford); David Lomas (Reader in Art History, University of Manchester); Michael Archer (Tutor in Art History, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of

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