Few artists have so powerfully evoked the uncanny otherness of the unconscious like Swiss artist Peter Birkhäuser. His unknown dream paintings were met with blank incomprehension, and were not well-received by the art community of the time, but, viewed today, his vivid paintings bear striking testament to the disruptive and transformative reality of individuation, the purpose of Jungian psychology, which is to seek wholeness of personality by bringing the unconscious contents into reality.  

After a midlife crisis, Birkhäuser dedicated himself exclusively to bringing these unconscious images into reality. Just how hard this struggle with himself must have been is suggested by the fact that it took the artist twelve years to make the great break and paint a picture entirely according to his own imagination, with no model from the real world.   

The fantasy pictures reflect not only the artist’s own personal psychological situation, but also the spirit of the age, revealing what is taking place in the depths of the collective unconscious in all of the people of our time. Because of this, they are not easy to decipher: they are simply there, and wish to be experienced.

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▶ Light From the Darkness: The Paintings of Peter Birkhäuser

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⌛ Timestamps

(0:00) Introduction: Peter Birkhäuser

(6:06) 1. The World’s Wound (1953)

(7:10) 2. The Cat (1949-1955)

(8:05) 3. Depression (1954-1955)

(8:39) 4. Depression #2 (Date unknown)

(9:16) 5. Duel (Date unknown)

(9:51) 6. Coming Up (1954-1955)

(10:24) 7. The Inward Gaze (1954-1955)

(11:18) 8. The Fourth Dimension (1956-1957)

(12:30) 9. Imprisoned Power (1958)

(13:31) 10. Fire Gives Birth (1959-1960)

(13:59) 11. The Outcast (1960)

(14:36) 12. Puer (1960)

(15:36) 13. The Magic Fish (1961)

(16:14) 14. A Birth (1961)

(16:51) 15. Alarm (Date unknown)

(17:07) 16. The Hidden Power (1964)

(17:40) 17. Moira (1965)

(18:25) 18. Untitled “The Four-Eyed Anima” (Date Unknown)

(18:55) 19. At The Door (1965)

(19:41) 20. With Child (1966)

(19:58) 21. Anima with Crown of Light (1966)

(20:28) 22. The Observer (1966)

(20:54) 23. Bear at the Tree of Light (1968)

(21:28) 24. Dark Brother (Date unknown)

(21:51) 25. Spiritus Animalis II (1968)

(22:18) 26. Window on Eternity (1970)

(23:04) 27. Sun of the Night (1970)

(24:04) 28. The Woman with the Cup (1971)

(24:48) 29. 24 of March 1971 (1971)

(25:17) 30. Constellation (1971)

(25:30) 31. Lighting the Torch (1974)

(25:53) 32. Having Speech (1975)

(26:15) 33. In The Night of 13 October 1942 (1975)

(27:30) 34. Spiritus Naturae (1976)

(27:54) 35. Lynx (1976)