Insights into brain function through the examination of art: the influence of neurodegenerative diseases

There has been intense interest in determining how the visual brain processes the outside world, and in identifying the neuroanatomical correlates of the ability to create art. Comparing art production before and after illness onset permits some speculation on the function of selective brain regions affected by the neurodegenerative process. In this review of cases of neurodegenerative illness in visual artists, the evolution of abstraction may be argued to either reflect an enhancement of previous skills or, that the emergence of abstraction, when it was previously absent, is a manifestation of cognitive and visuo-spatial decline. We present examples of each, illustrating both perspectives and suggest that the two opposing views may not be mutually exclusive.