Artaud

Artaud had an incredibly hard life , this definitely reflected on his art and the meanings he was putting across through his art work .

From a very young age Artaud was faced with extreme trauma , he was the eldest child of 9 , yet only 3 survived. Meaning he would have had to go through the loss of his brothers and sisters and also be effected by the effect of this on his family. During this time of his life he made lengthy visits to his maternal grandmother. They became very close yet she died too. Interestingly after her death Artuad began writing poetry. His art followed deep trauma and sadness explaining the nature of his art.  Not only did Artuad experience loss during his child hood but he also had meningitis which became the origin of life long nervous disorders.

In 1914 Artuad first properly suffered from depression. He was unfit to join the army and through the years that followed he was in and out of nursing homes. Interestingly through looking at his timeline its clear to see that after each tragedy in his early life he wrote or published poetry. This really shows that Artuad really was a tortured artist who depressingly worked best when he was least functonable as a person. By 1918 Artaud had began to experiment with drugs. His relationship between drugs and depression grew together. To escape the depression Artaud would turn to drugs , yet obviously the drugs maid his fragile mind worse. Yet through his self destruction Artuad's art became increasingly interesting. Through his use of opium he first dreamt of 'spontaneous theatre'.

From 1922 Artaud became very active in the theatre. He attempted to quit drugs yet his attempts were in vain. To me it is clear to see that though Artaud was bad at life he created great works from his despair and incapability to look after himself. As his life went on he became more and more involved with different art forms from poetry to plays to film. Artuad was also clearly un afraid to live and make bold decisions. In 1936 he left for Mexico yet was penniless.  Yet in 1937 the successful and almost happier days seemed to be gone. He had more failed drug treatment and a failed engagement to Cecile Schramme. After writing and publishing Les Nouvelles Revelations de l'etre he ended up first being arrested n Ireland and then being emitted to another mental institute. The next 9 years were  spent moving around different instates and Asylums. Artuad then died in 1948 from cancer of the anus.

Though Artuad lived an extremely terrible life were his tortured sole could never look after his body his offerings to theatre were immense. I think its very important also to understand how depressed he was when looking at his work as the themes of his art work clearly come from the dark places in his mind.