Inside, Outside – The World of the Artist (Richard Dadd)

Established in 1994, THE COURSE offers innovative and exciting lectures in Art History, Literature, Music and Opera.

In INSIDE, OUTSIDE, The World of the Art, Nicole Mezey will look at how creativity reflects the personal and professional experience of the artist. This series focuses on a different artist each week, looking first at the life behind their creations – the mental asylum in which Richard Dadd produced some of his greatest works, the pressure of eight children on the output of Frans Hals – before moving on to explore their work and the way it reflects that experience.

Richard Dadd (1817 – 1886), Portentous Visions

Not many artists made their reputation during 40 years in isolation. In 1844, Richard Dadd, a promising young artist, killed his father and spent his remaining years in Bethlem Hospital and Broadmoor. There, he continued to draw and paint, exploring over and again images from the world he had left behind but above all developing the “fairy pictures” which captured his fantastical imaginings.