Normal psychology patient 8 - geriatric

6 artworks by Rita Simon's mother (Normal psychology patient 8, geriatric). The collection contains 2 detailed landscapes, 4 images that use a common style based on wavy painted lines, plus a final image of a figure among coloured vertical lines - a much starker image than the preceding pictures.

The notes on the containing folder (possibly written by Rita Simon) state there is a "consistant style: transitional massive, except the verso picture of number 6. Incomplete sequence showing increasing proccupation with death and depression".

The notes on the containing folder also state "Geriatric: seqential selection from"

Rita Simon's mother, in her late 80s, made these paintings in River Street, London, in the late 1970s (she died in 1982). She was quite lucid, had lost her obsessional attitude, came to live in Ireland and became more relaxed, developed a new personality. The paintings were done in the "kitchen/community" art studio. They tell of her fear of dying.

This information is taken from conversations between Rita Simon and Wellcome staff between 1995 and 1997.