Art & Mind is a journey into art, madness and the unconscious. An exploration of visionary artists and the creative impulse, from the Flemish Masters of the Renaissance to the avant-garde movement of Surrealism and the unsung geniuses of Art Brut and Outsider Art.
Featuring artists Hieronymus Bosch, Francisco Goya, Vincent Van Gogh, William Blake, Edvard Munch, Salvador Dali and many more.
“Amélie Ravalec’s dazzling film Art & Mind is an unparalleled chronicle, a journey into haunting, haunted places, which will fascinate and captivate both experts in the field and those for whom its themes are less familiar.”
Art & Mind explores the relationship between art and madness. The theme of madness inspired some of the most incredible painters in history, but mad people often experienced an unstoppable urge to create art too. Art & Mind also investigates how visionary and avant-garde artists sought to explore their unconscious mind as an inspiration for their art.
The theme of madness inspired artists since the Middle-Ages to create truly magnificent paintings: the “Stone of Madness” by Hieronymus Bosch and the Flemish Masters, the apocalyptic visions of Pieter Bruegel, compelling depictions of asylums by Goya and countless portraits of madness including Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear.
Art & Mind traces the advances in the understanding of the human mind and its influences on art. The emergence of the unconscious inspired Romantic artists to explore the hidden realms of dreams and visions in their art. Emerging psychology theories of Sigmund Freud and his contemporaries later became a major source of inspiration for the Surrealists.
The border between visionary creation and madness is sometimes tenuous, and many artists experienced bouts of madness. Van Gogh cut his own ear while confined in a psychiatric hospital, William Blake had conversations with dead poets, Goya was hearing voices and Munch was convinced of being condemned into madness since birth. The Surrealists Leonora Carrington, Unica Zürn and Antonin Artaud also spent time confined in asylums and captured their experiences of madness in their art.
Stories of outsider artists are just as inspiring, ranging from the 45-volumes magnum opus of Adolf Wölfli to the compelling portraits of schizophrenia by Bryan Charnley. Art & Mind unveils the history of Art Brut, from its foundations in the dark corners of Victorian asylums to being exhibited in the world’s finest galleries, museums and private collections.
Art & Mind features interviews with art historians, artists, museum curators, psychiatrists, neuroscientists; and over 350 artworks from prestigious museums and collections worldwide including Tate Britain, Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Prinzhorn Collection, Rijksmuseum, La Halle Saint Pierre, ABCD Collection, Outsider Art Fair, Wellcome Collection, Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Lombroso Museum, Freud Museum, MAHHSA, Lille Métropole Museum of Contemporary and Outsider Art, Maisons Victor Hugo, Adamson Collection, Museum Dr Guislain, Henry Boxer Gallery and Museum Im Lagerhaus.
PRESS & REVIEWS
“The film presents us with a vivid cavalcade of artworks, each of which is worthy of analysis, speculation and appreciation; and, by way of expert commentary, locates the work in the philosophical and aesthetic concepts of its era. Early notions of sin, infirmity, possession and psychic transformation — all varieties of what was seen as ”folly”- give way to the idea of melancholia as both a pathological condition and a source of wisdom and insight, and later still to the embracing of unreason and the unconscious by the avant—garde.”
“This is a most engaging story. You will become lost, submerged, and enthralled by the narrative developing in front of your eyes. The film is a thorough and many layers deep investigation of the *unknown* in art. Surrealist automatic writing, art brut, mental patients visions, high gothic phantasmagoria, Goya nightmares... there is a common thread. Don’t miss this movie!”
“The artist’s mind is terra incognita for outsiders. What is the nature of inspiration? What motivates a person to create? Why do people with mental problems often have greater intellect and sensitivity than healthy people? Amélie Ravalec’s film, dedicated to the study of the connection between art and the secrets of the human psyche, tries to answer these questions.”
“Artists have long expressed for us the complexities of the human mind. From explorations of the unconscious by the Romantics to the embrace of Freudian psychology by the Surrealists, from Van Gogh’s psychiatric experiences to the voices in Goya’s head, the workings of the human brain are one of modern art’s central themes explored in this fascinating documentary by Amélie Ravalec.”
“Art & Mind explores the interrelated creative impulses of compulsion, vision, spiritual and conceptual fixations, and the inspiration found in the deepest recesses of the human mind”
“This movie is so deeply and passionately researched that it takes the breath away.”
“Art & Mind is a whirlwind tour of western art and its depiction and origin in altered states of mind.”
SCREENINGS
For screening requests and press enquiries, please contact artandmindfilm@gmail.com
2019
WORLD PREMIERE - SOLD OUT
April 27th, THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS, LONDON, UK
Presented by ICA X Freud Museum
Q&A with director Amélie Ravalec, Raw Vision Magazine editor John Maizels
and psychiatrist & chair of the Adamson Collection Dr David O’Flynn
April 27th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
April 28th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
April 28th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
April 28th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
April 30th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
April 30th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 1st, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 1st, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 1st, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 2nd, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 2nd, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 4th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 5th, Art House Crouch End, London, UK
With Q&A by director Amélie Ravalec
May 5th, Bio Roy, Gothenburg, Sweden
May 5th, Capri Theatre x Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, USA
Introduced by Montgomery Museum of Fine Art Curator, Alice Novak
May 5th, Prestige Filmtheater, Künzelsau, Germany
May 5th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 6th, Tartu Elektriteater, Tartu, Estonia
May 7th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UKMay 8th, Mockingbird Cinema, Birmingham, UK
May 8th, Lark Theater, Larkspur, California, USA
May 8th, The Lyric Cinema x Museum of Art Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
May 8th, Splendid Palace, Riga, Latvia
Introduced by Professor of Psychiatry Maris Taubes
May 8th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 9th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 9th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 9th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 10th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 10th, Studio Skoop, Ghent, Belgium
x Museum of Fine Arts and Museum Dr Guislain
Introduction by director Amélie Ravalec
May 10th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 11th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 11th, Lark Theater, Larkspur, California, USA
May 11th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 11th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 12th, Filmhuis Alkmaar, Alkmaar, Netherlands
May 12th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 14th, Het Ketelhuis, Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 14th, Tartu Elektriteater, Tartu, Estonia
May 14th, Sedona International Film Festival, Sedona, Arizona, USA
May 14th, Sedona International Film Festival, Sedona, Arizona, USA
May 15th, The FilmBar, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Supported by Phoenix Art Museum
May 15th, Bijou Art Cinemas, Eugene, Oregon, USA
May 15th, Filmhuis Alkmaar, Alkmaar, Netherlands
May 16th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 16th, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, California, USA
Introduced by cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Petr Janata
May 16th, The FilmBar, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
May 16th, The FilmBar, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
May 16th, The Screening Room, Tucson, Arizona, USA
May 16th, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
May 16th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 17th, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
May 17th, Hoffman Center for the Arts, Manzanita, Oregon, USA
May 17th, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
May 17th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 17th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 18th, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 18th, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
May 18th, Elephant Space, Seoul, Korea
May 18th, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
May 19th, Duke of York's Picture House, Brighton, UK
Q&A from director Amélie Ravalec
May 19th, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
May 19th, The Showroom, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA
May 19th, Acme Screening Room, Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
Q&A with mental health counselor Bambi Thorne Kuhl and therapist, Christyne Siliverdis
May 19th, The FilmBar, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
May 19th, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
May 19th, The Screening Room, Tucson, Arizona, USA
May 21st, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
May 22nd, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
May 23rd, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
May 23rd, The Leatherhead Theatre, London, UK
May 24th, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
May 24th, Acme Screening Room, Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
May 24th, Tartu Elektriteater, Tartu, Estonia
May 25th, Fine Arts Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA
May 25th, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
May 26th, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
May 26th, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
May 26th, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
May 26th, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
May 27th, Cinema, Filmkunstkino, Dusseldorf, Germany
May 30th, Tartu Elektriteater, Tartu, Estonia
May 30th, Cinema, Filmkunstkino, Dusseldorf, Germany
May 30th, The Paramount, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
May 31st, Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria
June 1st, Zoetropolis Theatre, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
June 1st, Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria
June 1st, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
June 2nd, Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria
June 2nd, Zoetropolis Theatre, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
June 2nd, Time and Space, Hudson, New York, USA
June 3rd, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 3rd, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 3rd, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 3rd, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 4th, Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria
June 4th, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 4th, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 4th, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 5th, Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria
June 5th, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 5th, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 5th, Multisala Barberini, Rome, Italy
June 10th, Multisali Verdi, Vittorio Veneto, Italy
June 10th, IMG Cinemas Candiani di Mestre, Venice, Italy
June 11th, Multisali Verdi, Vittorio Veneto, Italy
June 11th, IMG Cinemas Candiani di Mestre, Venice, Italy
June 12th, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
June 13th, Splendid Palace, Riga, Latvia
June 14th, Capitol, Marburg, Germany
June 14th, Cineplex, Marburg, Germany
June 14th, Cineplex, Marburg, Germany
June 16th, Old Greenbelt Theatre, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
June 17th, Old Greenbelt Theatre, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
June 24th, Nicolai Biograf, Kolding, Denmark
June 29th, Jarvis Conservatory, Napa, California, USA
June 29th, Jarvis Conservatory, Napa, California, USA
July 8th, Nicolai Biograf, Kolding, Denmark
July 14th, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
July 14th, Cineplex, Marburg, Germany
July 14th, ProLi Kino, Passau, Germany
July 16th, Capitol, Marburg, Germany
July 16th, Derby QUAD, Derby, UK
July 17th, Nicolai Biograf, Kolding, Denmark
July 18th, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 18th, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 18th, Derby QUAD, Derby, UK
July 19th, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 19th, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 20th, Avoca Beach Picture Theatre, New South Wales, Australia
July 20th, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 20th, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 21st, Falmouth Art Center, Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA
July 21st, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
July 21st, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 21st, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 21st, Adria, Berlin, Germany
July 21st, Cineplex Rundkino, Dresden, Germany
July 21st, Cineplex, Amberg, Germany
July 21st, Cineplex, Bayreuth, Germany
July 21st, Cineplex, Neumarkt, Germany
July 21st, Cineplex Planken, Mannheim, Germany
July 22nd, Avoca Beach Picture Theatre, New South Wales, Australia
July 22nd, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 22nd, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 23rd, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 23rd, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 24th, The Elizabeth Picture Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 24th, New Farm Cinemas, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
July 27th, Luna Leederville, Perth, Australia
July 28th, Adria Filmtheater, Berlin, Germany
July 28th, Cineplex Rundkino, Dresden, Germany
July 28th, Luna Leederville, Perth, Australia
July 30th, Luna Leederville, Perth, Australia
August 22nd - Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia (with Q&A)
August 22nd - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 22nd - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 23rd - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 23rd - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 24th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 25th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 25th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 26th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 26th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 26th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 22nd onwards: Russia - 586 screenings total
Moscow: Zvezda, GUM, Kinomax on Prague, Pioneer, Eldar, Zvezda, Tretyakov Gallery, Higherhender cinema, KARO, October 11, Vympel, Polyot, 5 zvyozd, DomJur kinocenter, Iskra, Star, Tretyakov Gallery, Pennant, Space, Flight,
5 Stars Novokuznetskaya, Kinomax Mosaic, HouseJour, Spark, Kinomax Titan, Kinomax Water.
St. Petersburg: Angleterre, KARO Warsaw Express, Landok, Cinema Center Rodina, Lenfilm, Aurora, Art Center
Yekaterinburg: Yeltsin Center, Salute - Kazan: World, Kinomax Tandem - Saratov: Home Cinema - Vladivostok: Kinomax Sapphire - Krasnoyarsk: Home Cinema, Kinomax, Kinomax - Tula: JK Cinema - Odintsovo: Cinema Galaxy - Irkutsk: Kinomax - Novosibirsk: Victory, Aurora, Seventh heaven - Omsk: Glory - Samara: Art - Berdsk: Orion - Penza: Contemporary - Rostov-on-Don: Horizon, Cinema Club "Cinema House, Kinomax MEGAMAG - Kemerovo: Planet Cinema, Promenade 2
August 27th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 27th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 27th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 27th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 28th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 28th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 28th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 28th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
August 29th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
August 29th - Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
September 1st, Dairy Arts Centre, Boulder, Colorado, USA
September 3rd, Dairy Arts Centre, Boulder, Colorado, USA
September 4th, Dairy Arts Centre, Boulder, Colorado, USA
September 4th, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, USA
September 5th, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, USA
September 6th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 7th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 7th, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, USA
September 8th - ICA, London, UK
With intro by Director Amélie Ravalec
September 8th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 9th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 10th - Hopewell Theater, Hopewell, New Jersey, USA
September 10th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 11th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 11th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 11th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 12th - Globe Cinema, Calgary, Canada
September 12th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 13th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 13th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 14th, The Florence Griswold Museum, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, USA
September 16th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 17th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 19th, Klikkuð Menning Festival at Bio Paradis, Reykjavik, Iceland
September 19th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 20th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 21st - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 22nd - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 22nd, Klikkuð Menning Festival at Bio Paradis, Reykjavik, Iceland
September 27th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
September 28th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 1st - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 3rd, Museum Ovartaci, Aarhus, Denmark
Q&A with director Amélie Ravalec
October 3rd - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 7th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 8th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 9th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 10th, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
October 10th, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
October 11th, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
October 18th, Saint-André des Arts, Paris, France
Q&A with director Amélie Ravalec, Fabrice Flahutez and Jean Jacques Plaisance
October 20th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 20th, World Theatre, Queensland, Australia
October 26th - Documentary Film Center - Moscow, Russia
October 27th, Saint-André des Arts, Paris, France
October 27th, Majestic Cinemas - Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia
October 27th, Majestic Cinemas - Nambucca Heads, NSW, Australia
October 27th, Majestic Cinemas - Sawtell, NSW, Australia
October 27th, Majestic Cinemas - Nambour, NSW, Australia
October 27th, Belgrave Cinema, Armidale, NSW, Australia
October 27th, Inlet Cinema, Sussex Inlet, NSW, Australia
October 30th, Majestic Cinemas - Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia
October 30th, Majestic Cinemas - Nambucca Heads, NSW, Australia
October 30th, Majestic Cinemas - Sawtell, NSW, Australia
October 30th, Majestic Cinemas - Nambour, NSW, Australia
October 30th, Belgrave Cinema, Armidale, NSW, Australia
October 30th, Inlet Cinema, Sussex Inlet, NSW, Australia
November 3rd, Saint-André des Arts, Paris, France
November 9th, Les Arcades, Cannes, France
November 10th, Saint-André des Arts, Paris, France
March 20th, School of Creative Arts, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Art, Madness and Visionary Artists -Talk by director Amélie Ravalec
November 16th, Symphony Space, New York, USA
Q&A with director Amélie Ravalec
November 17th, Saint-André des Arts, Paris, France
November 21st, Cube Microplex, Bristol, UK
November 27th, Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, UK
December 3rd, Cinema Osservanza Imola, Bologna, Italy
December 4th, Cinema Osservanza Imola, Bologna, Italy
December 5th, Springfield Museums, MA, USA
December 6th, “Sanando desde el Inconsciente” Congreso Internacional
December 11th, A4 Zero Space, Bratislava, Slovakia
2020
February 1st, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA
February 2nd, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA
February 13th, Gallo Huset, Aarhus, Denmark
POSTPONED
March 15th, Schlosstheater Münster, Münster, Germany
March 18th, Film Studio 90, Varese, Italy
March 18th, Film Studio 90, Varese, Italy
March 22nd, Patagonia Creative Arts Association
April 18th, Jacob Burns Film Center, NY, USA
April 25th, Nuart Festival @Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen, UK
April 30th, STATE Studio Museum - PNEUMA Exhibition - Berlin, Germany
With director Q&A
April 30th, Affaires culturelles des HUG, Geneva, Switzerland
