The exhibition is centred around a remarkable work by Victorian artist Richard Dadd on loan from Tate. Painted during the artist’s time spent at Bethlem Hospital, where he was detained after killing his father who he believed had been possessed by the devil, Portrait of a Young Man returns to the place it was made 170 years after its creation. The portrait is believed to depict William Charles Hood, the superintendent at Bethlem during Richard Dadd’s stay there. While it’s now thought that Dadd was suffering with schizophrenia, he was detained at Bethlem as ‘criminally insane’, demonstrating how our understanding of mental health has changed over time.

Other works include thought provoking portraits from Bethlem’s own extensive collection of art relating to mental health. From a portrait of Princess Marina, former Duchess of Kent to Brian Charnley’s powerful ‘bondaged' head, they hail from a range of eras and represent a multitude of artistic movements – most powerfully they provide a window into various forms of mental illnesses and mental health care over the centuries.

This exhibition is supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund and has been curated in collaboration between the museum and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust’s Lived Experience Network.