Jurate Macnoriute
Art Testing for Mentally Ill and Mentally Healthy People

Preparing research stuff for this cycle of articles I have examined casual 15 mentally ill and 23 healthy people. Here I call mentally ill people if psychiatrists diagnosed their mental trouble; mentally healthy ones, if psychiatrists did not diagnose any troubles.

For this research I have visited the nearest Švėkšna psychiatric hospital (Lithuania), studied collected there patients' drawings. I examined eight from fifteen mentally ill respondents in the mental institution, others outside. Mentally illnesses of respondents vary from Down's syndrome, schizophrenia to brain damage. Mentally ill respondents are all who I could visit; mentally healthy ones are absolutely casual. Gender and age of respondents also are casual, age is from seven years to eighty. Any respondent did not study art at any special art school.

After analysis of their answers to test's questions I did such conclusions:

1. As demonstrated by insane asylums' experience frequent feature of mentally ill people is poor education what shows that mentally ill people have less aptitude, often they are from category of mentally retarded.

2. Mentally ill respondents distinguish with high percent of liking to sing (67% from all insane), when only 43% of normal people have this hobby. Numbers of hobbyists to draw and paint is low in both groups.

3. Mental patients are more uneasy about their dressing and wears' colors, what shows their greater pregnable.

4. Mentally ill people more like to be in churche (73%), than healthy ones (43.5%).

5. Classicistic painting has better rating than romantic in both groups.

6. Both groups like more pictures with warm colors' gamma, but in colors' scale mentally ill respondents rate superiorly cold colors, when healthy respondents from reds' area (39.8%). The second color for healthy people is green. Mental patients from warm area appreciate yellow.

7. All respondents excepting one woman appreciated euphoric pictures. Funk art, horror are disliked almost totally.

8. Abstract art is disliked in both groups (over 70%), other modern arts are better liked by ill respondents' group (50%) and more disliked by normal people (70%).

9. Because expression of mentally ill people is so different from healthy ones, some contemporary alienists think that creativity's source is mental illness, and conclusion, that all artists are insane, follows from their research. I found that originality and modernism of mentally ill people is unwitting, unintended, for incapacity, conditioned by their illness. The very truth that mental patients want to draw similar things to real ones, but are not able. That is shown by their evaluations of artworks of eminent artists -- classicistic painting is more liked than romantic and modernistic; horror is disliked totally.

The questionnaire

	15 mental patients	23 mentally healthy people
average	46 years	31 year
person's background	under 4 classes 20%, under 11 classes 80%	under 4 classes 30.4%, under 11 classes 65.26%, university 4.34%
like to sing, paint, dance, act or to write poetry	93.3% (singers 67%)	56,5% (singers 43%)
favorite color of clothing	light 13.3%, dark 53%, no matter 33.7%	light 4.3%, dark 35%, no matter 60.7%
estimation of being in churche	liked 73%, no 20%	liked 43.5%, no 56.5%
preferable period of day	morning 33.3%, noon 40%, evening 13.3%, night 13.3%	morning 26%, noon 52%, evening 22%, night 0%
preferable hard or soft drawing (Ingres or Manet)	Ingres 53%, Manet 47%	Ingres 60%, Manet 40%
preferable hard or soft drawing (Serebriakova, Carriera)	Serebriakova 66.7%, Carriera 33.3%	Serebriakova 70%, Carriera 30%
preferable bright, dark, intensive colors (Smuglevicius, Delacroix, Petrov Vodkin)	Smuglevicius 53.3%, Delacroix 26.7%, Petrov Vodkin 20%	Smuglevicius 52%, Delacroix 22%, Petrov Vodkin 26%
preferable cold or warm colors in pictures (Monet)	cold 33.3%, warm 66.6%	cold 26%, warm 74%
preferable cold or warm colors from colors' wheel	cold 60%, warm 40%	cold 55%, warm 45%
preferable romanticism, impressionism, expressionism (C.D.Friedrich, Sisley, Duda)	Friedrich 26.7%, Sisley 66.7%, Duda 6.7%	Friedrich 30.4%, Sisley 43.5%, Duda 26.1%
preferable portrait of Rembrandt, Rubens, Petrov Vodkin	Rembrandt 40%, Rubens 40%, Petrov Vodkin 20%	Rembrandt 30.4%, Rubens 30.4%, Petrov Vodkin 39.1%
estimation of nude	like 33.3%, no 33.3%, sometimes like 26.7%, indifferent 6.7%.	like 21.7%, no 21.7%, sometimes like 0%, indifferent 56.5%.
preferable euphoric mood of picture or horror	euphoria 100%	euphoria 96%, horror 4.3%
preferable emptiness or crowding	Emptiness 60%, crowding 40%	Emptiness 65%, crowding 35%
preferable Matisse or Serov's portrait	Matisse 27%, Serov 73%	Matisse 30%, Serov 70%
preferable abstract or realistic painting	Abstract 20%, realistic 80%	Abstract 13%, realistic 87%
preferable intensive colors or not	Intensive colors 73%, no 27%	Intensive colors 61%, no 39%
estimation of cartoons	like 73%, no 20%	like 91.3%, no 8.7%
estimation of modern art	like 50%, no 50%	like 30%, no 70%
estimation of funk art	like 13.3%, no 86.6%	like 8.7%, no 91%
preferable colors	15 mental patients	45 healthy people
lime-green	13.3%	11.1%
green warm	-	8.8%
green	26.6%	15.5%
green cold	-	4.4%
cyan	13.3%	8.8%
cerulean	6.7%	2.2%
blue	6.7%	6.6%
blue warmer	-	4.4%
blue to violet	6.7%	4.4%
violet	-	-
violet to purple	6.7%	-
purple to violet	-	-
purple colder	-	2.2%
purple	6.7%	4.4%
red	6.7%	20%
red to orange	-	6.6%
orange to red	6.7%	4.4%
orange	-	2.2%
orange to yellow	-	-
orange more to yellow	-	4.4%
yellow to orange	-	-
yellow to orange weaker	13.3%	-
yellow	-	2.2%
lemon	13.3%	4.4%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All articles

Introduction to Art of Mentally Ill and Healthy People

Mental Illnesses. Short Review

Art Testing for Mentally Ill and Mentally Healthy People

Stylistic Characteristics of Art of Mentally Ill Patients and Mentally Healthy People

Anti-weight of Depicted Objects as One From Two Supreme Criterions Diagnosing Mental Illness

The Drawing Test for Individuals Suffering Mental Illness

The Drawing Test for People not Diagnosed With Mental Illness

Stylistic Differences of Mentally Ill and Far East Artists. Character of Openness as One From Two Supreme Criterions Diagnosing Mental Illness

Diagnostic Example. Self Analysis

Stylistic Closeness Between Mentally Ill and Gothic Arts

Stylistic Characteristics of Criminals Art

Art Styles, Directions, Movements and Mental Illnesses

Presence of Time in Painting of Mentally Ill and Mentally Healthy Artists

Conclusive Result of Research on Art of Mentally Ill and Healthy Artists

Copyright © 2004, Jurate Macnoriute

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