This week was paper week--research paper, that is. After much deliberation, I settled on a series of paintings of the insane by Theodore Géricault. They're just fascinating to me: how normal they first appear to be and then, on closer inspection, the oddity seeps out. Nevertheless the dignity and respect Géricault gives to these victims of insanity bridges the gap between an otherwise untouchable world, that of les fous, and our own.
What a contrast these dignified portraits have with the depictions of asylums by Goya. Goya's lunatics appear like animals, rather than people.
There you have it, two depictions of insanity. One shows the human side of those who suffer with mental illness, the other, the crazed, animal-like ferocity of those who've lost more than their marbles.
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