For this assignment you will research the mental health of either Frida Kahlo or Vincent Van Gogh.
Both of these artists created many self-portraits. Your job is to determine whether we can see signs of mental illness within her or his self-portrait.
You must then select two articles to analyze their work:
- One of these articles should be about one or more of her or his self-portraits.
- The other article should be about assessing mental illness through observation OR an article discussing the mental illness of either Kahlo or Van Gogh.
Requirements:
- Write a 500-700 word essay in which you analyze the research on her or his mental illness.
- Analyze one or more self-portraits by either Kahlo or Van Gogh. Do you believe the portrait reflects how the artist was feeling at the time? Why or why not?
- Argue whether you believe it possible to diagnose someone who is no longer living based on an image of them? How?
- What are the challenges scholars face when considering the mental illness of artists?
