Images from the Unconscious

With the exhibition Images from the Unconscious, Marres, House for Contemporary Culture, brings artworks from the extraordinary collection of Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente to the Netherlands for the first time. This museum is part of the Brazilian national center for psychiatry in Rio de Janeiro. From 1946, schizophrenia patients produced a collection of unique artworks under the supervision of revolutionary psychiatrist Nise da Silveira. Da Silveira believed that the works provided insight into their inner worlds and received support from the famous psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. Art critics were also impressed by the quality of the works. Brazilian art critic Marcio Doctors saw the work as a renaissance of Brazilian art.

Inner worlds
In a time when psychiatric treatment methods such as electroshock, lobotomy, and insulin coma were conventional, the Brazilian psychiatrist Nise da Silveira believed that in order to help psychiatric patients, they should be allowed to express their grief, not be numbed. In 1946, she started the Occupational Therapy Ward. Her creative activities proved to be a powerful means both to calm schizophrenics and access their inner worlds.

Carl Jung
The drawings of circular forms the patients made—some irregular, others showing complex, harmonious structures – intrigued Da Silveira. She sent some samples to the famous psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. For him, these mandalas confirmed his theory of the collective unconscious.

Collection
Over the years, the rare collection grew to approximately 400,000 works. The art production became so voluminous that the ward opened a gallery in 1952: the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente (Museum of Images from the Unconscious). The museum is still part of the hospital on the outskirts of Rio and therapists continue to follow Da Silveira’s methods. This way, the collection keeps growing and is now officially recognized as artistic Brazilian heritage.

Artists
The exhibition Images from the Unconscious presents artworks by Adelina Gomes, Carlos Pertuis and Fernando Diniz. They each worked with Nise da Silveira for nearly half a century and produced their works between 1946 and 1998. The artists’ oeuvres provided the psychiatric team with leitmotifs to gain insight into their grief and struggles: the metamorphosis, the vision and the search for unity. 

About Marres
Marres, House for Contemporary Culture, is located in the heart of the old town of Maastricht in the South of the Netherlands. Marres develops a new vocabulary for the senses in collaboration with artists, musicians, designers, scientists, and perfumers. In addition to bringing a lively program of exhibitions, presentations and performances, Marres also features a beautiful garden and a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant.