A work of paintings might be considered as psychological confession. People appreciate paintings with their own viewpoint and express their feelings in their own way using artistic language such as lines and colors. Such expressions project characteri...
A work of paintings might be considered as psychological confession. People appreciate paintings with their own viewpoint and express their feelings in their own way using artistic language such as lines and colors. Such expressions project characteristics of people's inner existence exposing their childhood, growth period, psychological trauma, conflicts, anger, sorrow, and so on. In this way, painters describe their inner feelings in their paintings. At this time, painter's subjective appeal depends not on objective description but on emotional contents.
Munch and Gogh are good examples for this. They revealed their youth in their paintings provocatively and frankly. They expressed their suppressed inner world and madness and confusion hid in human mentality using their own technique with language. They were able to heal their trauma and emit their creative power energy at the same time through paintings. Paintings provided them with space for healing and allowed them to form themselves and grow offering place where consciousness and unconsciousness meet.
Munch suffered from a matter of life and death for a long time. He represented this matter in his paintings, which is recognized as universal emotion. Gogh symbolized and formed himself by expressing his mental state using his own colors.
Dubuffet is another example for this. He suffered from disordered mind, too. His paintings suggest that he refused to accept the fact that he had mental illness. It is shown that he had tremendous creative power energy and were able to develop creativity in artworks.
The above examples show that artistic activities have significant power in emotional and spiritual healing from pathological point of view. This is what art therapy aims. Art therapy discovers people's creative energy through artworks and converts such energy to paintings, healing emotional illness hid in unconsciousness.
In conclusion, Munch and Gogh themselves played an important role in healing through their paintings. They expressed their pain through artistic activities, which might be thought as art therapy. Applying art therapy in counseling and education field might lead to improved results.