ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a series of instances of artists who suffered brain injuries. It describes fascinating cases where similar brain trauma has led to a change in or even an enhancement of artistic output. The chapter also considers remarkable examples of non-artists who have found their artistic abilities unlocked following neurological conditions. It explores individual idiosyncrasies, such as synaesthesia and tetrachromacy, which provide people with unique ways of viewing their visual world, and looks at how these conditions can be represented in the artistic outputs of individuals. One of the more remarkable features of synaesthesia is the higher prevalence of synaesthetes who are artists. Damage to specific brain regions during stroke brings about some very specific and unusual deficits. However, it is known that the brain is highly plastic, and that the neural pathways and circuits of the cerebral cortex can remap and rewire themselves in response to injury.
