An apocalyptic vision of the destruction of London and a squirrel drawn by a failed assassin are two of the many paintings by people who spent time in the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital.
They are part of an exhibition that looks at the sometimes thin veil between the sleeping and waking worlds, where for some people, the distinction between dreams and reality can be difficult to discern.
Most of us have at times woken up in a cold sweat triggered by dreams that hopefully fade quickly from the waking memory, leaving behind a shaken sense of being terrorised. But if the memory won’t fade, sometimes it can lead to waking terrors, and it was the job of Bethelm Hospital to try and treat the afflicted.
For a long time, art has been both a way for patients to seek escape from their torments and a tool to explain to doctors what is going on. And what is now the Bethlem Museum of the Mind has brought together a collection of artworks that explore the dreaming state.
The exhibition features two dozen works by the likes of William Kurelek, Charlotte Johnson Wahl, Jonathan Martin and Bryan Charnley, and is dominated by contemporary artist Kate McDonnell’s vast installation Night Tides, which evokes the restlessness and frustration of insomnia.
The works on display range from small sketches to huge canvases, some of which are exceptionally detailed and others in their simplicity give hints as to what’s going on in the mind of the artists.
The destruction of London was created by artist and arsonist Jonathan Martin, who was confined at Bethlem Hospital from 1829 until his death in 1838.
The squirrel came from a poem by James Hadfield, the man who tried to assassinate King George III, and whose actions resulted in a swift change in the law to ensure he was sent to Bethlem as a criminal lunatic instead of being executed as he had wanted.
As a collection, it’s as varied as the people who created the artworks and the illnesses they struggled with. The explanatory captions offer glimpses into their minds and may trigger a sense of sympathy with their plight.
The exhibition, Between Sleeping and Waking: Hospital Dreams and Visions is at Bethlem Museum of the Mind until 8th November 2025 and is free to visit.
It’s open Wed to Sat from 9:30am to 5pm.
The museum is about a 15-minute walk from Eden Park railway station, or the SL5 superloop from East Croydon stops outside the museum.
