Description

Bogousslavsky J.

Eur Neurol. 2004;51(2):78-83.

Jean-Martin Charcot not only was one of the founders of modern neurology, but he displayed an exceptionally developed visual perception and memory, with special artistic gifts, which he used first as a hobby and subsequently as a tool in his profession. Previously unpublished drawings emphasize Charcot's talents in caricature, including autoderision. One of the best achievements of Charcot in correlating the clinic with art includes his thorough study of artistic representations of "possessed states", which allowed him to refine his work on hysteria. The artist and the scientist are two unique facets of Charcot, whose permanent coexistence help to understand his legacy.