Interesting article in the New York Times about William Utermohlen, an artist who died of Alzheimer’s but painted self portaits as his mind was slowly disolving.

“The paintings starkly reveal the artist’s descent into dementia, as his world began to tilt, perspectives flattened and details melted away. His wife and his doctors said he seemed aware at times that technical flaws had crept into his work, but he could not figure out how to correct them.

“The spatial sense kept slipping, and I think he knew,” Professor Utermohlen said. A psychoanalyst wrote that the paintings depicted sadness, anxiety, resignation and feelings of feebleness and shame. ‘

The part about “technical flaws in the artists work – he was aware of them – but no longer knew how deal with them”.

“Alzheimer’s affects the right parietal lobe in particular, which is important for visualizing something internally and then putting it onto a canvas,” Dr. Miller said. “The art becomes more abstract, the images are blurrier and vague, more surrealistic. Sometimes there’s use of beautiful, subtle color.”

Mr. Utermohlen, 73, is now in a nursing home. He no longer paints. “

Sad – I guess the artist forgot everything – maybe everyone he knew.