Autism and Art
When people in our society hear autism they tend to think of a low functioning nonverbal person who can’t do anything for themselves. Yet, there have been plenty of famous artists in the past that have had autism. Autism is neurological disorder that characterized by differences in communication, restrictive or receptive behaviors and social interactions. No two autistics will ever behave the same, especially in males and females. Females tend to mask their emotions more than males so it’s harder to tell. Autism comes in ranges from low to high. High functioning Autistics used to be said to have Aspergers. And it may surprise you to know that those with any form of autism almost always have a high IQ!
Many famous people in history have had Autism. Here are just a few artists:
1) Michelangelo - Born in March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy, this Italian painter and sculptor would become so intensely focused on his work that he would never let go of it until he KNEW it was completed. Hyper fixation is a super power that autistics and other neurodiverse people have. It came help them and sometimes hurt them. When they become so fixated on a projected they won’t let it go until they feel they need to and when they do they won’t want anything to do with it ever again. They can be a problem for the student who needs to study for an exam. Michaeolango also had problems with social interactions and he had to have strict routines in order to survive.
2) Leonardo de Vinci - Leonardo is a wonderful example of how some autistics actually have more than one diagnosis. It’s very common in the neurodivergent world to have more than one diagnosis. He was born April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence. Leonardo was constantly restless. He would jump from one task to another never finishing them after he started them and he would get very little sleep. His brain was always going with creative ideas. This suggest that he had ADHD. Yet, he was able to pay attention to even the slightest of details. Whenever he worked on a project he was obessess over the slightest of little detail. That shows Autism. Other signs of Autism are his inverted tendencies. There is a diagnosis called AuDHD. That is a combination of Autism and ADHD.
Along with this diagnosis, Leonardo, may have also been what is known as Twice Exceptional. Twice Exceptional is very common in the world of Neurodivergence. This occurrence happens with someone who is gifted also has a learning disability. For example, I have a high IQ of 140 yet I also have dyscalculia which is a learning disability in math. Learning Disabilities DO NOT go away after a child reaches 18. Leonardo was known to do what is called mirror writing, when a person looks into the mirror when he is writing. Anyone in his time would do this because to him the letters on the paper that he was reading or writing were backward so the mirror would make them forward looking. That is a sign of Dyslexia.
Leonardo would have AuDHD and Twice Exceptional with Dyslexia
3) Vincent van Gogh - Vincent van Gogh lived a solitary life in the late 1800s. He was born in March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands. As a child he was socially awkward. Many people found that Vincent were so odd that other children were too scared to play with him. He never had the ability to understand other people’s emotions and their motivations behind their actions. No one ever wanted to be around him.
Vincent loved art. He became narrowly obsessed wit hit. His unnatural obsession was so intense that he forgot to take care of his own personal health. That made his image towards other people even worse. He would look to them as some horrible monster. Even worse, he was prone to periodic agitated meltdowns that with time only became worse. These meltdowns became violent not to anyone but himself. Vincent was reckless. He cut off his own ear in 1888. He allowed himself to starve so he could buy art supplies. The meltdowns, intense obsession, lack of emotional/social insight, all define Autism. Yet, not only Autism. The violent shifting back and forth in moods, that was Bipolar. He also had Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Borderline Personality Disorder. He shot himself in the chest on July 29, 1890.
Three different artists with autism in three different ways.
The next time you hear someone has Autism don’t judge them. They all face a different battle in their own unique way.
