NATURAL AND ARTICTIC ASPECTS OF ART THERAPY*
*First published in Ecopoiesis: A New Perspective for the Expressive and Creative Arts Therapies in the 21st Century (Eds. Stephen K. Levine and Alexander Kopytin), London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2022.
Monika Wigger
Professor at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg. Member of the management team of Continued Scientific Education in Art Therapy at the Institute for Training and Research of the CU Freiburg. Art therapist in private practice. Board member of the German chapter of the International Association for Art, Creativity and Therapy (IGKGT/IAACT).
Abstract
The article discusses the issue of the ambiguous relationship between nature and art, as shown in the works of artists and by clients’ work in art therapy. The work of some contemporary artists who turned to the depiction of nature or the study of human relations to nature, such as Joseph Beuys, Andy Goldsworthy, Claude Monet and Thomas Wrede, are commented on. Brief descriptions of examples of artistic design of a psychiatric hospital and of the reflection of nature through art in the psychiatric hospital in Münster (Germany), as well as interaction with the natural world during art therapy, in particular, with patients suffering from oncological diseases, are given.
Keywords: art, nature, land art, oncological diseases, photography
Introduction
For the artist Josef Beuys, nature in its entirety was spiritual and spiritually animated. This included plants and animals as well as crystalline forms such as stone and sand. His art consisted of the need to research an in-depth, multi-dimensional awareness of the relationships between nature and human beings and to repeatedly bring this into a social discourse. His drawings of rabbits and deer created analogies with prehistoric cave paintings. As a result, he repeatedly made references to the origins of human history and to Indigenous peoples. Installations and performances always play a major role in the forces of nature and animals. In his performance in 1983, “How to explain pictures to a dead hare,” Beuys can be seen walking through the rooms of a Dusseldorf gallery with a dead hare in his arms. For Beuys, the hare functioned as an ancient Celtic symbol for fertility. He had applied honey and gold leaf to his face and hair and his shoes were weighted down with iron soles that gave him traction.
The art historian Volker Harlan commented:
‘When he explains the pictures to the hare, when he describes the deer, swan and other animals, not only when he sees animals, but also plants, soil, planets, the supernatural, etc. as the perimeter of human observation, it is the task of every human being to learn to understand this environment in order to learn to understand oneself, that is, to practice self-recognition by recognizing the world around us.’ [7, p.108]
Beuys is serious, he wants to provoke, wants to generate something and even goes so far with his conception that he categorizes the contemplation and understanding of his conceptualization of art as an expanded concept of art “...even if it is only a sound wave that reaches another ear” [7, p.81]. Even as an adolescent, he was interested in many things, including understanding what it is to be human, and the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Characteristic of Steiner’s natural philosophical view is his reference to the four elementary qualities: solid, liquid, gaseous, and heat, as well as to the levels of nature: mineral, plant, animal, and human. Steiner found equivalence in nature and art for certain physical, psychological, spiritual, and social aspects of humans [13, pp.86–89]. Steiner’s anthroposophical perspective has been established in specific educational and therapeutic concepts to this day. Waldorf education and anthroposophic medicine and therapy should be mentioned here as examples. Art and natural interventions have a firm place here, just as nature and art are inseparable for Beuys in the sense of an expanded concept of art.
Contradictions between nature and art
A nature-oriented, therapeutic approach extended specifically to art therapy is not yet in sight. Perhaps it is the contradiction between the two terms “nature” and “art” that makes it difficult to coalesce into a definitive natural art therapy.
‘Artistic appropriation of the natural world itself follows a structure of contradictions: on one hand, it removes an object from us by transforming it into a distant image, on the other, its state of imagery grants us the ability to experience it in the first place... It is the nature of art to not be able to understand it.’ [2, p.5]
The categorical separation of nature and art described in this way allows a distance from the two components in order to see which aspects from the respective areas can be used for one’s own approach. The term “nature” in this context could be a reference to material and location—art using natural materials in a natural environment. Instead of working inside a studio, art would be created in meadows, forests, mountains, and along waterfronts using materials and conditions found on site. However, this is by no means an invention of art. Even in primeval times, humans unconsciously and consciously worked and shaped natural objects by stacking, layering, piling, trampling, lying, laying, scratching, gnawing, digging. Natural art or specifically land art uses, among other things, this original “processing” of nature within nature. The works created in this way, however, are still subject to change; they are subject to wind and weather, thereby changed and in the end, they fade away. From the artist’s point of view, this aspect is inherent to the work.
Belonging to and interacting with nature
One of the best-known representations of the natural art genre, a variation on land art, is by the Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy:
‘I am a part of nature, I don’t see myself as being in opposition, and I think it’s a strange idea to see us as separate from nature. Our lives and what we do affect nature so closely that we cannot be separate from it.’ [9, p.105]
His artistic works are a consequence of site conditions, time of day, weather and weather-dependent energy, as well as the abundant possibilities of the materials that he finds. In addition, most of his artistic works are site-specific and are abandoned on completion:
‘A rock is not independent of its surroundings. The way it sits tells how it came to be there. The energy and space around a rock are as important as the energy and space within. The weather—rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm—is that external space made visible. When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space around it. In an effort to understand why that rock is there and where it is going, I do not take it away from the area in which I found it.’ [9, p.41]
Goldsworthy has no intention to possess the work of art that he creates within nature. The artist captures the coalescence of the moment and seizes its essence by taking a photo snapshot.
Conservation, preservation, collection, and storage, much like the processing of natural materials, are cultural achievements—skills and resources that are crucial for body and soul. Stored natural foods initially ensure the availability of basic food, but also enable access to emotional preserves. A glimpse at a shell from last summer’s vacation can be exhilarating on cloudy days, or a snowball from winter, preserved in the freezer, can be disillusioning in its un-snow-like state. The objects, shell or snowball, have a representative function here—they are objects that resonate a feeling of longing. ‘We cannot grasp the snow, cannot possess it; if we try, it slips through our fingers, if we bring it into the house, it melts, and if we put it in the freezer, it ceases to be snow.’ [11, p.7]. Sociologist Hartmut Rosa’s idea that one could experience resonance if only one could finally get the world or nature under control proves to be a fallacy. Nature enables us to recognize that not everything is available at all times.
Nature is the basis of our existence. The ways in which we perceive nature are also part of its reality. In being perceived, nature materializes in different ways, whereby this perception neither coincides with nor is independent of its reality. In this way, the boundaries between “nature” and “culture” are, in effect, a product of culture. Nonetheless, every culture must recognize that it only exists because nature exists, and so, we as natural creatures understand the reality of nature. [12, p.55]
Experiencing nature live has its own specific qualities. In everyday urban life, for example, we associate a walk in the forest, in the mountains, or by the sea with unwinding. Engaging with the natural world allows us a psychological, physical, and sensory reset. By experiencing phenomena such as distance, proximity, cold, heat, day and night, colors, surfaces, and elements, we are able to leave our daily routine behind in order to find a sensory, cognitive baseline. Abandoning the four walls of indoor space opens up new possibilities; we get moving, to the outdoors.
‘We step outside; however, this necessary step is not alone sufficient to truly experience the outdoors. …it is only when we enter the real outdoors and simultaneously the metaphorical outdoors; when we loosen the ties to pragmatic orientation that determine our normal behavior in indoor space; when we no longer move within this outdoor space with fixed goals; rather, we remain open to the irregular presence of the larger space itself.’ [2, p.177]
In this situation, new, sensory, emotional, and physical experiences can be made. Every form imaginable to us is present in nature and has its unique properties. Experiences with nature can be varied and extremely contradicting: pleasant, uncomfortable, or frightening. Nevertheless, we continually allow ourselves to be inspired by the diversity and abundance of nature.
Nature as an evolving practical laboratory
According to Huppertz & Schatanek [8, p.123], ‘We can experience a strong bond with nature. This experience is the basis of many spiritual interpretations and speculations about the alliance between man and nature, the interconnectivity of all things or an essence that is the source all existence.” One aspect of the “primordial source” can be interpreted as analogous to maternal qualities. Accordingly, nature also allows regression and interaction with the primordial, and satisfies basic human needs, such as feeling connected and held, to touch and to be touched. “Sometimes everything intertwines so well that we cannot distinguish between what nature contributes and what we contribute (for example, when breathing or swimming).’ [8, p.287].
In this way, experiences of nature enable psychological and physical “development” to compensate for a deficit. Such experiences can be an important countermeasure. Of course, the natural world is not without contradictions and resistance. Existential borderline experiences through natural disasters are threatening and can profoundly shake our confidence in nature. Creating art within nature is not always harmonious. The unpredictability of wind, weather, tides, and the strain and unpleasantness experienced are uncomfortable. As a result, one’s mental and physical limits are challenged, sometimes destroying ideas. We, at times, question the basic principle of cooperation. Mother Nature does have a disagreeable side—and that can make perfect sense.
When we observe nature, we must not overlook that fact that she is a patient herself. Deterioration of flora and fauna, marine pollution, global warming—nature is beleaguered and needs our empathy and care. We inform ourselves, try to be mindful, and are righteously indignant about exiting agreements that aim to protect our environment. Despite this, we still look to the natural world to fulfill our need for peace, relaxation, recreation, spirituality, inspiration, pleasure, joy, desire, humility, and gratitude. In this instance, art facilitates access to the cultural manageability and availability of nature’s endowment. Pictorial representations (including plastic arts) offer the opportunity to approach the beauty, unpredictability, harshness, and destruction that the natural world endures and creates. Art enables us to examine nature, including our own, human nature.
Within the visual space of art, the natural world appears in such a way that every overwhelming emotional impact is always simultaneously controlled and distanced through the knowledge of the artistically created situation and aesthetic discernment. [1, p.55]
A work of art grounds nature, confines it, gives it a defined context, lends access to it, and simultaneously provides a definitive perspective. At the moment of viewing, we are in a protected space; we have choices, we are not simply exposed to nature. This enables the recipient to get acquainted, to warm up, to move in closer; it also offers the opportunity to distance oneself if things get too hot or too stormy. Self-awareness within a natural landscape is always multidimensional. Unlike using paper, the outdoors has no formal boundaries, yet it refuses “to see the big picture,” demands the use of the body and the senses, ‘so that even the greatest foresight becomes blurry.’ [1, p.179]. We can never commandeer the natural world, or functionalize it as a backdrop. Being in the outdoors always implies being involved, whether by the sea, in the forest, in the mountains, or at home in your own garden.
Visualization of nature and one’s own wellbeing—the painter Claude Monet
The painter Claude Monet (1840–1926) was being coy by claiming that ‘he could do nothing but garden and paint’ [6, p.260]. Unlike Goldsworthy, who works with nature, Monet dealt with particular intensity in observing nature, viewing it as a subject of research independent of a representation of reality, symbolization, or abstraction. Monet was fully engaged with daily studies in his “natural laboratory.” He conducted dozens of studies from a haystack alone. The motif probably had a particular charm in its simplicity, offering Monet a welcoming surface on which light and color could play and project.
Figure 1: Water lily pond in the Freiburg Botanical Garden (photo by Wigger)
His renowned, large-format oil paintings of evanescent subjects such as clouds, water, plants, and reflections completely engage the viewer, demanding absolute attention, analogous with the visually receptive demands of perceiving these subjects in the natural world. Despite the permanence of painting, when stepping forward and backward while viewing Monet’s works, we find that visual phenomena of constant change can also be perceived, much like those that occur in the natural world through light and shadow, day and night or seasonal conditions. ‘To experience sight by recognizing oneself within the view’ is how Gockel describes the essence of Monet’s endeavors [6, p.262]. As Monet aged, his eyesight deteriorated due to cataracts. The resulting alterations in his eyesight and associated depression were presumably terribly stressful and a huge sensory challenge for the painter.
‘The distortions and exaggerations of the colors that I now experience are frightening. If I were condemned to only see nature in this way, I would prefer to remain blind and remember its beauty.’ [Monet around 1926, quoted in 10, p.64]
During the time of Monet’s acute illness, the natural world can be seen as an equivalent of the bizarre, threatening, and frightening, not only for individual physical, psychological, and social changes and the suffering of the resulting discrepancies, but also for the painter’s irrepressible energy, and the way he faced and dealt with visual distortions. Monet experienced his own physical and psychological limitations while he was ill. In 1922, he was almost blind, but his painting did not stagnate.
He became inventive, pushing himself beyond limits; shapes became almost abstract and seemed to dissolve, and he found himself and his perception of nature anew.
The principle of plastic arts and sculpture in nature
Principles of nature and life can also be transferred to multi-dimensional forms of art. For example, let’s examine plastic arts and sculpture. In a narrower sense, a sculpture describes the addition of plastic media, such as clay, wax, or paper, to form an object. The development of a bone, a tree trunk, a stalactite through the deposits of calcite follows exactly the same principle.
A sculpture is created by reducing, removing, grinding, sawing, or carving. Equivalent processes can also be found in the natural world. The artist Josef Beuys speaks of a natural work of art. Every pebble is afforded its shape through the grinding process and thus becomes a naturally formed plastic work of art. ‘One can of course imitate something similar, there are sculptors who try to imitate this, to imitate a naturally produced sculpture.’ [Beuys in 7, p. 83]. Understanding nature through shapes, thereby learning about oneself within them could apply to plastic arts and sculpture. The sensory experiences with and within nature, the individual, sensory-related state of being impressed, as well as the interest in and the desire for perception itself facilitate experience and development.
Images of longing within nature— photography as a window
Permanent—that is, non-changing—representations of nature in the form of painting, drawing, and photography can evoke sensory experiences and effect emotions in much the same way as when we experience the natural world. Let us remember the aforementioned paintings by Monet. In 2005, as part of the redesign of a closed ward for acute psychiatric patients, several large-format landscape photos by the Münster artist and photographer Thomas Wrede were installed in the corridors and common rooms of the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital Münster. The decision was accompanied by an artistic design concept for the entire psychiatric clinic [3]
Wrede’s works from the 2004 series “Seascapes” feature images of the sea, the sky, and the horizon, as well as beach tents and people playing or swimming. As the works were being installed, conversations about the sea were spontaneously prompted: “I’ve been there before.” Memories were awakened; at some point, most people had been to the sea. The topic lent a feeling of belonging, and conversations arose. The horizon of the protected ward expanded through the images captured from nature.
Figure 2: Thomas Wrede: Beach and Water, 2004, VG © Bildkunst, Bonn
One older gentleman was so excited by the sight of the sea motif that he began singing the song “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” and attracted astonished listeners. The photographs have been an integral part of the ward ever since. It must be noted that the viewers were not left to fend for themselves in front of the works. The positions chosen by Wrede, the perspectives, the precision of captured moments, the size and color of the photographs provide the viewer with a calculated composition that guides the perception process.
The photographer is effectively on site as the works are viewed. For patients experiencing acute psychological crises, this can harbor an important auxiliary ego state function. Visual art can, in this way, serve as a controlled perception test in a titrated and filtered manner, effectively avoiding overstimulation. Acute patients, whose activity radius is limited to the dimensions of a psychiatric ward, are enabled to have an interaction with nature receptively through the presence of images of oceans and beaches.
Existential experiences with inner and outer nature
Water and sky are primeval. Walking on water is a biblical motif and, in essence, all life originates from water. With solid ground under our feet, we revert to this basic natural principle.
Figure 3: Sensory and magical—the installation On Water by the artist Ayse Erkmen during The Sculpture Project, Münster in 2017 (photo by Wigger)
With her current work On Water in Münster’s harbor, Erkmen offers an active, sensory space of experience in and above the water. A biblical, magical image of being able to walk on water reveals enjoyment, excitement, and fright. It opens up the possibility to ignore the laws of nature. A collective, unifying feeling of it’ll be alright arises among those who actively wade. I want to create a trustworthy space in the water... Water is difficult to handle, which makes it very attractive to me. I created an easy way to become acquainted with water: above it, in it, and yet, everyone is safe. It’s a way of dealing with the element at its best. [4]
Life sometimes requires symbolic solutions, such as those offered by Erkmen when walking across her safely submerged footbridge. Confronting a life-threatening illness can be such a moment.
A tumor diagnosis triggers feelings of helplessness, existential threat, and deep despair in those affected. In addition, related treatments, such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, are often cause for concern. Whether the tumor is benign or malignant, accompanying symptoms such as physical complaints, anxiety, and depression ensue and impact the quality of life of those affected.
The overall situation is complex, inscrutable, often difficult to grasp, and frightening. Those affected are faced with the task of accepting the vulnerability and dysfunctionality of their inner nature. They can’t rely on anything anymore or take anything for granted. The rug has been pulled out from under them.
To trust that everything will be alright is essential in this situation; this is not naive, but rather courageous in a positive sense. Much like the way Erkmen uses wading to cross the expanse of water in order to reach the other bank, patients allow themselves the positive energy to look to the future.
Since 2012, patients with brain tumors have had access to art therapy in the neurosurgical ward of the University Hospital Münster in Germany. In addition to access to museums and the outdoors, the standard materials for therapeutic interventions in the form of active artistic work include natural materials such as sand, water, clay, wood, objects found in the natural environment, and plant material. In this context, dealing with nature with all your senses is of particular importance. The materials transform into a sensory exercise. A branch becomes a tree, a pile of sand becomes an island, a stone becomes a mountain—arranged in a defined space, designed and structured. The colors of an autumn leaf are scrutinized and enlarged as a painting, the structure of an orange is explored, the lines on the palm of a hand are drawn and transformed into a landscape. Sometimes a brain is modeled, which is not necessarily part of everyday perception but within these circumstances, is somehow inherent in nature. The invisible and the incomprehensible are expressed with the help of natural media. The artistic materials create a mental and physical balance that allows patients to take something into their hands and control it. In this way, patients are not just passively receiving treatment, they are proactively exercising control.
An excursion
May 25, 2012: A group of five young brain tumor patients, an intern, and I are sitting on the terrace of the painter’s workshop. The conversation revolves around complicated organizational procedures in hospitals. We discuss communication problems with treating physicians and everyday bureaucratic hurdles. In the end, tumor surgery is the focus of the conversation. Patients describe their individual experiences. They question which physician and professional advice can be trusted to make important decisions demanded over the course of their exceptional disease situation. The surgery itself is usually classified as stressful or traumatic. The same applies to the entire in-patient phase. Patients exchange ideas regarding subsequent rehabilitation. The individual, altered relationship to their own body represents a plethora of issues.
S. decides to paint the view from the terrace onto the field as a landscape and chooses Indian ink for her medium. While the other patients are working on their spatula paintings in the workshop, S. positions herself at the communal table on the terrace. She asks how she can transfer the composition onto the picture surface, and I refer back to our drawing exercises. We measure our field of vision with a pencil, recognize gaps, overlaps, and proportions. I also take a watercolor paper to transport the view into the landscape. S. delineates her picture area onto the paper with an individual format. At the edge of the picture, she creates color samples...
Figure 4: Watercolor from May 25, 2012
In this young woman’s watercolor, not only the visual, but also the emotional reaction to the tranquility of the landscape can be felt within the individual lines. The activity of painting not only reveals the image of a landscape, it also opens the possibility for intensive self-awareness: I paint; therefore, I still am.
In this instance, it is the view of a landscape, at others, the inspection of the intricacies of one’s own hand, the peel of an orange, an autumn leaf, your life partner’s feet—in the here and now. Through active art therapy, patients remain connected with nature and life itself.
Figure 5: View from the painter’s workshop in Münster (photo by Wigger)
References
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- Erkmen, A. (2017, 8 July). It is not good to have wet feet. Berliner Zeitung.
- Freyberger, H.J. (2018). Psychrembel Online. www.pschyrembel.de/Hilfs-Ich/P04FT.
- Gockel, B. (2015). Equivalents: Monet’s Painting and his Garden in Giverny. In A. Lutz & H. von Trotha (eds), Gardens of the World: Places of Longing and Inspiration (pp.256–264) (in German). Cologne: Wienand.
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Reference for citations
Wigger, M. (2025). Natural and artistic aspects of art therapy. Ecopoiesis: Eco-Human Theory and Practice, 6(1). [open access internet journal]. – URL: http://ecopoiesis.ru (d/m/y)