Sidebar: Liane Collot d`Herbois’s medical painting therapy

The medical painting therapy proposed by Liane Collot d`Herbois is grounded on anthroposophy, which was developed by Rudolf Steiner. The human being is understood as a microcosmic expression of the macrocosm (the universe), and as a totality composed of body, soul, and spirit.6 Liane Collot d’Herbois based the medical painting therapy on the principles of light, color, and darkness. She believed that the principles of evolution are light and darkness, which are polar forces forming the constitution of the human organism; and that the light forces are present in the upper pole of the human organism and reflect the nervous system. Darkness is present in the lower pole of the human organism and expresses the metabolic-limb system, which is characterized by metabolism and movement rather than a specific organ system.7 She saw these forces in connection with tendencies of the human organism in health and disease: the tendency to sclerosis or inflammation; the disposition for contraction, hardness, and expansion; for neurasthenia or hysteria; and the organism’s propensity to generate catabolic or anabolic forces.8,9 The therapy is a way that both principles—light and darkness—meet harmoniously. When this meeting is healthy, atmosphere, space, and movement are created. By promoting these elements artistically, the patient mobilizes inner resources. When painting according to these laws and following the quality of each principle and the encounters between light and darkness, a dynamic of colors is printed. Each color presents itself in a specific place, with different movements, qualities, and features. Liane Collot d`Herbois presumed that by joining those elements in their proper qualities, the patient stimulates better functioning of all systems, including that of circulation and breathing.10 The first works, in charcoal, are believed to indicate the spiritual, soul, and physical levels of a human. These 3 levels are associated with qualities of consciousness, thinking, and the nervous system. The darkness is a reflection of the connection of the patient to the earth, the quality of the will, the metabolic-limb system, and the interaction between light and darkness.10,11 The later works, watercolor paintings, are associated with the functioning of the soul virtues and form the basis of the functioning of the organic process, including the organs.10,11