Galerie
Psychiatric Services Thurgau
Collection Münsterlingen in the Staatsarchiv of the canton Thurgau
The Thurgauische Irrenheilanstalt Münsterlingen was opened in the monastery of the same name located directly on Lake Constance. While the hospital was built facing away from the lake, the asylum in Thurgau is still today described as “lakeside.” The old buildings were damp and during the war many at Münsterlingen were forced to go hungry, as was also the case at many similar institutions. Psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922) worked from 1909–1913 as an assistant doctor at Münsterlingen. He distributed paper, paint, and clay to the patients and staged theatrical performances. He took photographs of the patients, the surroundings, and of festive occasions. Edouard F. (1875–1948), by profession a housepainter, created a large format oil painting of the Last Supper. Roland Kuhn (1912–2005; head physician, 1939–1971, director, 1971–1980) sometimes used drawing as a therapy. Kuhn’s use of psychotropic drugs was investigated from 2015 to 2019 (“Münsterlingen test case”). The patient files have been held in the Staatsarchiv Thurgau since 2005. From the period from 1870 through 1930, 249 works by thirteen patients remain extant, three women and ten men. The file of Meta Anderes (1874–1927) includes a notebook; four of her drawings in colored pencil are included in the Prinzhorn Collection (Prinzhorn 1922, p. 93 ff.). Hermann Rorschach kept a drawing. There are also large series of works by Konrad B. (1873–1949)(p. 133), Franz Schneider (1898–1977), some silhouettes by Luise B. (p. 145) and other patients.
Exhibitions
2018-2019 “Extraordinaire! Unbekannte Werke aus psychiatrischen Einrichtungen in der Schweiz um 1900/Extraordinairy! Unknown Works from Psychiatric Institutions in Switzerland around 1900“, Sammlung Prinzhorn, Heidelberg, Kunstmuseum Thun, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz (Catalogue d/e)
2014-2015 “Auf der Seeseite der Kunst. 175 Jahre Psychiatrische Klinik Münsterlingen“,
1. Dezember 2014 bis 14. März 2015 im Museum im Lagerhaus, St. Gallen,
1.April 2015 bis 22. Mai 2015 im Staatsarchiv des Kantons Thurgau, Frauenfeld, (Catalogue)
Literatur
Ammann, Jürg, Studer, Karl (ed.), 150 Jahre Münsterlingen. Das Thurgauische Kantonsspital und die Psychiatrische Klinik 1840-1990. Münsterlingen 1990
Brand-Claussen, Bettina, Michely, Viola (ed.), Irre ist weiblich. Künstlerische Interventionen von Frauen in der Psychiatrie um 1900. Heidelberg 2004
Luchsinger, Katrin, Hirsch, Helen, Röske Thomas (eds.), Extraordinaire! Unbekannte Werke aus psychiatrischen Einrichtungen in der Schweiz um 1900 / Extraordinairy! Unknown works from Swiss Psychiatric Institutions around 1900, Zürich 2018
Luchsinger, Katrin, Salathé, André, Dammann, Gerhard, Jagfeld, Monika (eds.), Auf der Seeseite der Kunst. Werke aus der Psychiatrischen Klinik Münsterlingen 1894-1960, Zürich 2015
Meier, Marietta, König Mario, Tornay, Megaly, Testfall Münsterlingen. Klinische Versuche in der Psychiatrie, 1940–1980, Zürich 2019
Müller, Christian, Signer Rita, (eds.), Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922), Briefwechsel, Bern 2004
Prinzhorn, Hans, Bildnerei der Geisteskranken. Ein Beitrag zur Psychologie und Psychopathologie der Gestaltung, Berlin 1922
Rorschach, Hermann, Über Reflexhalluzinationen und verwandte Erscheinungen. Dissertation in: Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie 13, S. 357-400, 1912, auch in: Kenower Weimar Bash (ed.), Hermann Rorschach, Gesammelte Aufsätze, Bern, Stuttgart (1912) 1965, S. 105-154
Rorschach, Hermann, Analytische Bemerkungen über das Gemälde eines Schizophrenen. In: Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie 3 (1913), S. 270-272
Rorschach, Hermann: Analyse einer schizophrenen Zeichnung. In: Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie 4 (1914), S. 53-58
Thaten, Cornelia, Die Thurgauische Irrenanstalt Münsterlingen zur Zeit von Dr. med. Hermann Rorschach von 1909-1913, Zürich 2000