Mistress, Model, Muse and Mentor

This book is about the contribution of women to the lives of famous artists. Although women have given so much to these artists, this selfless contribution has been largely overlooked by art historians. In trying to redress such a huge imbalance, I have focused mainly on male painters. As a retired psychiatrist, I could not write about these artists, and the women who were their intimate partners, without considering their psychopathology. In writing about this I have struggled to avoid jargon and to ensure readability. The main focus is on the relationship between psychopathology and creativity, with some comments about the effects of psychiatric treatment on the creative process. The overall bias of the book is feminist, but my voice here is not strident. I have tried to comment sensibly on what modern women may learn from the truly heroic women who are the main focus of this work.