Louis Wain is famously known for his cat paintings, ranging from magical fantasy scenarios to, brightly colored almost unrecognizable cat illustrations. Louis was born on August 5th, 1860. Born to his mother ( a French woman who designed church embroideries and carpets), and his father ( a traveler for a textile firm). Louis had continually experienced tragedy in his life, losing his father, and wife and living through World War 1, all weighed heavily on Louis. Outside of his surroundings, Louis also struggled with Schizophrenia, and (if alive in the 21st century) would most likely fit on the Autism Spectrum as well. Louis had always been known to have a ¨wild imagination¨ and a knack for the fine arts. Louis Wain had also always had a specific attachment to cats in his art, they were the primary subject. While Louis´ mental health continued to deteriorate his art took an odd twist alongside it. Later in life, Louis would also be diagnosed
with depressive episodes and anxiety. This led to Louis being declared insane and being relocated into an asylum in 1924. While he did reside in an insulation for a while, eventually. In the 20th century, there was little research on mental health issues, and often (as in Louis Wain´s case deeming mentally unwell people as insane) diagnoses were inaccurate or unbiased. There has been much discussion of what actual mental health issues Louis had struggled with. But thankfully there are many psychological studies relating to art. Psychologists have determined, based on Louis´ extensive art portfolio, that he most likely did have untreated schizophrenia. Based on his progression to more psychedelic, and brightly colored paintings, compared to his yonder days, creating more realistic cat portraits. Louis Wain´s art has been used in several psychology books, using his art as an example of the relationship between art and mental illness.
A great display of his mental illness progressing would be between these paintings. Each was painted in varying stages in Louis Wain´s life but followed the same pattern. Each progressively loses its realistic look. While the first image shows just a simple cat illustration, the following is similar only now depicting a blue cat aside the tabby. The third painting is much more ´trippy´ to look at, it´s still recognizably a cat, but the swirling lines and bright blue make it much less realistic. The final image, one of Louis´s pieces made during his time in an asylum/hospital, is very psychedelic. Bright neon colors and clashing lines make it much harder to decipher that this painting is of a cat. Sadly, in November of 1938, Louis suffered from a stroke. A little over a year later, Louis would pass due to health decline. Louis Wain´s art was finished and put to rest with him on July 4th, 1939.
