ABSTRACT
Fluidity is synonymous with descriptions of aesthetic criterion, and central to the gestalt approach is the promotion of fluid creative expression. The creative ground of the approach is reflected in its founders’ backgrounds. Fritz Perls loved theatre and had worked in plays; he was influenced by Moreno, the founder of psychodrama. Laura Perls was a musician and writer before she became a psychologist and psychotherapist (Kitzler, Perls and Stern, 1982); she played the piano for years and had an active interest in modern dance. Both Fritz and Laura Perls were influenced by German expressionism and modern literature. They went on to collaborate with Paul Goodman with his radical views on social criticism that saw art as an antidote to what he saw as the evils of society. Through this creative synthesis of ideas, interests and ideals the founders of gestalt assumed that in human experience aesthetic qualities were inherent, evident in the human need to perceive their experience in meaningful, structured and organized wholes – to form and complete gestalts.
