Art and Schizophrenia

Martin Ramirez is an arties that that lived between 1895 and 1963. He was born in Mexico, but soon moved to the U.S.A to support his family. When hi arrived to the States, he couldn’t communicate, because he didn’t know any word of english. Finally, he was arrested and delivered to a psychiatric institution. In the hospital, he was diagnosed with catatonic Schizophrenia. He spend more than thirty years in psychiatric hospital, and during this period he began to draw, and finally ha was discovered by a psychology. The topics of ramirez’s pieces are typical of the Mexican society: immigration, religion, folklore. Although his work could be named as simple, he has a great use of spaces and color. One of the most important merits of this artist is that his technique is unique. He never attend yo any art school, so he is a self-taught artist.

I like this painting “untitled”, because reflects part of the Mexican identity like the uniform and the animal.