Lovis Corinth: integrating hemineglect and spatial distortions.
Lovis Corinth suffered a right-hemispheric stroke at the age of 53 years, but died only 14 years later. The huge number of artworks that he produced after this life-threatening disease allows a detailed analysis of his poststroke artwork in comparison to his prestroke artwork. When performing this analysis as a neurologist, an enormous diversity of subtle stroke sequelae can be discovered, which can mostly be explained by a left-sided hemineglect. These findings clearly go far beyond pure psychological processes. Moreover, Corinth is a good and motivating example for patients suffering disability after a stroke, because he was able to produce great artwork after his stroke. Lovis Corinth was struggling against motor disability that admittedly was not severely affecting his artistic production but he also had to fight against severe neuropsychological deficits that did have clear consequences for his artistic production. Corinth's credo was 'true art means to use unreality'. Taken together with the often cited phrase of 'drawing means to [details]', there will be a clear-cut interpretation for the neurologist that can be derived from the understanding of a right-hemisphere lesion and subsequent left-sided neglect.
Bäzner
H
H
Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Universitätsklinikum Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Hennerici
M G
MG
D000377:Agnosia / Q000209:etiology / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010151:Paintings / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000266:history*; D020521:Stroke / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology