.jpg) Melancholy and Raving Madness statues | |
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| Established | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Location | Bethlem Royal Hospital,Monks Orchard Road,Beckenham,London Borough of Bromley |
| Coordinates | 51°22′51.3″N0°1′46.9″W / 51.380917°N 0.029694°W /51.380917; -0.029694 |
| Type | Medical museum, art museum |
| Website | museumofthemind.org.uk |
Bethlem Museum of the Mind is a museum focusing on the history ofBethlem Royal Hospital, its programme of care, and its patients.[1] Opened in 2015, the museum is housed in an Art Deco building shared with theBethlem Gallery, which hosts exhibitions of contemporary artists who are current or former patients.
The museum's displays include work by artists who have suffered frommental health problems, such as former patientsWilliam Kurelek,Richard Dadd andLouis Wain. Another work is a pair of statues byCaius Gabriel Cibber known asRaving and Melancholy Madness, from the gates of the 17th century Bethlem Hospital. Other displays illustrate the history of mental healthcare.
The museum is a member ofthe London Museums of Health & Medicine.[2]
The museum cares for extensive archives from Bethlem Hospital,Maudsley Hospital andWarlingham Park Hospital, and some of the archives ofBridewell Hospital. There are documents dating back to the 16th century. The archives are open for inspection by appointment, subject to the laws of confidentiality governing recent patient records.
Since 1970, there had been a small museum at the hospital that mainly displayed items from the hospital's art collection. Due to the restricted size of the former museum, known as the "Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum", only a small fraction of the collections could be displayed at a time.
The inaugural temporary exhibition wasBryan Charnley: the Art of Schizophrenia, a monographic show on the artist (and former Bethlem patient)Bryan Charnley.[3]
In April 2016 the museum was shortlisted for the Museum of the Year award, alongside theVictoria and Albert Museum (the eventual winner), theArnolfini,York Art Gallery andJupiter Artland sculpture park and gallery.[4]