Changes in artistic style after minor posterior stroke.

Abstract

Two professional painters experienced significant changes in their art as the main consequence of minor stroke located in the left occipital lobe or thalamus. The features of this artistic conversion were analysed on the basis of extensive neurological, neuropsychological, and psychiatric evaluations. Both painters, initially unaware of the artistic changes, exhibited mild signs of executive dysfunction, but no general cognitive decline. The first painter, who showed mild visual-perceptive difficulties (dyschromatopsia and scotoma in his right upper visual field after left occipital stroke), together with increased anxiety and difficulty in emotional control, switched to a more stylised and symbolic art. The second painter, who also presented features of emotionalism related to his left latero-thalamic stroke, switched from an impressionist style to a more joyous and geometric, but more simplistic, abstract art. These findings show that mild cognitive and affective modifications due to focal posterior brain lesions can have significant repercussions on artistic expression.