Art from the asylum - Richard Dadd's paintings on display in Twickenham (From Surrey Comet)

Art from the asylum - Richard Dadd's paintings on display in Twickenham

5:00pm Friday 20th May 2011 in Exhibitions

From Caravaggio to Francis Bacon, via Gauguin and a fair few others, the life and times of the great artists have always been the source of much debate and discussion.

Victorian artist Richard Dadd, famed for his ‘fairy paintings’, is one whose eventful life and times have attracted plenty of attention and critical conjecture – and when looking at the details of his biography you can understand why.

Dadd was one of the most important artists of the Victorian age but spent much of his career in psychiatric hospitals, or as they were then known, lunatic asylums.

From a young age he displayed a bold imagination, creating his famed fairy paintings before a tour of the Middle East triggered the onset of a mental illness that led him to kill his father upon his return to England.

Dadd was committed to Bethlem Hospital and, subsequently, Broadmoor, where he continued to work as an artist, creating haunting images that combined bold imaginative leaps with the most delicate of miniaturist techniques.

Works from the Bethlem Art and History Collections Trust, West London Mental Health NHS Trust and private collections have now been brought together for a new exhibition that charts Dadd’s early career, travels to Europe and the Middle East, mental illness and work created while at Bethlem and Broadmoor Hospitals.

Dr Nicholas Tromans, whose new book, Richard Dadd: The Artist and the Asylum, will be published in July, says that while Dadd’s story presents “a fascinating case study in the history of psychiatry”, trying to find manifestations of his illnesses in the paintings is a futile exercise.

He adds: “When Dadd first became popular in the 1960s his biography gave him this romantic appeal. Yet many people have tried to interpret his illness through his work but it doesn't get them very far. His art might be eccentric and mysterious but it is not particularly mad.”

To complement the exhibition, young people with disabilities who attend the Orleans House Gallery’s regular Octagon group have worked with artist Ashley Davies to create a collaborative work inspired by Dadd’s famous fairy paintings.

The exhibition runs at Orleans House House Gallery from May 28 to October 2. Admission is free. For more information, visit richmond.gov.uk/orleans_house_gallery