by Eric R. Kandel. (Get the Book)Inspired by his interest in expressionist artists Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele, Kandel subjects their oeuvres to intensive analysis that integrates Freudian and Gestalt psychology, art history, and neuroscience. A Nobel laureate for his scientific research, covered in his memoir In Search of Memory (2006), Kandel sets several aims for his discussion. The radical direction taken by the expressionists induces Kandel's consideration of their immediate influences, be they fascination with Freud's theories (by Klimt, especially), the emotional tides of their personal lives, or painting's general drift from realism. This trio certainly accelerated the last, and the human emotions evoked by their portraits and nudes, dozens of which the book reproduces, attract Kandel's discerning observations. Art historians Ernst Kris and Ernst Gombrich, who later critiqued the revolution Klimt, Kokoschka, and Schiele wrought, help Kandel link his application of scientific studies of visual perception and the viewer's experience of the expressionists and art in general. Can science and art appreciators coexist for Kandel's prime readers? Yes, if they are not casual readers and are ready for his involved explorations of their interests. --Booklist
