Reference Exhibition: MELANCHOLY, GENIUS AND MADNESS IN THE WEST

Composed of more than 250 works, Melancholy: genius and madness in the West brings together "masterpieces miraculously lent" by 50 European museums
From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Durer to William Blake, Goya to Delacroix, van Gogh to Picasso, and right on up to contemporary works from the beginning of the 21st century, the exhibit traces the evolution of the concept of melancholy as it was seen, and often lived, by some of the West's greatest artists.

Saw at Berlin's Neue Nationalgaleriein last February 2006

Melancholia - that "royal malady" of the West which has afflicted so many great philosophers, artists and writers over the centuries. Traditionally the harbinger of nightmares, suffering and madness, it has always been a fruitful subject for artists.