The experience of art at the Juliano Moreira Colony in the 1950s

Abstract

Osório César’s and Nise da Silveira’s work tends to be featured in investigations of the relationship between artistic expression and psychiatric knowledge in Brazil in and around the 1950s. However, there were other experiences at the time, such as the painting done in the Praxis Therapy Department of the Juliano Moreira Colony, in Rio de Janeiro. The absence of any research of this experience prompted a search for documents that culminated in the analysis of old issues of Boletim da Colônia Juliano Moreira and other sources. The results indicate some peculiar features of the art done at the colony, such as the encouragement of copying and reproducing photographs as a form of therapy, differentiating it from the other experiences mentioned.