The stars only come out at night.

  • Charnley, Bryan, 1949-1991
Date:
1988
Reference:
3049666i
  • Pictures
  • Online

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view The stars only come out at night.

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Credit

The stars only come out at night. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Online resources

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About this work

Description

Picture includes a laurel reath, blue face, stairs, stary night, cityscapes, and a suspended figure in a nightgown. Text in the top left of the picture reads 'Don't don't, don't you know the stars only come out at night'.

Publication/Creation

1988.

Physical description

1 painting : oil on canvas ; 91.3 x 60.9 cm

Contributors

Biographical note

Bryan Charnley (1949-1991) was a British artist whose work illustrates his experiences of schizophrenia. In 1969 he enrolled on a BA in sculpture at the Central School of Art and Design, but left due to a breakdown. He started painting in 1978, and from the late 1980s he began to get recognition for his work, with Bethlem Royal Hospital purchasing four of his paintings. From 1987 to his death he kept a dream diary as a way of understanding his own mind. In March 1991 he decided to experiment with his medication and embarked on a series of self-portraits, a series which exposed his mental illness. The series was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 1995. He took his own life in July 1991.

Lettering

Don't don't, don't you know the stars only come out at night

Reference

Bryan Charnley. 1983. The stars only come out at night. [Oil on canvas]. Wellcome Collection 3049666i

Exhibitions note

Exhibited in the Reading Room, Wellcome Collection from January 2020 onwards.

Notes

Title provided by the Estate of Bryan Charnley.
Signed BJC 88 in the bottom right of the recto.

Ownership note

Purchased by Wellcome Collection in 2018 from the Estate of Bryan Charnley.

Type/Technique

Languages

Subjects

Where to find it

  • Location Access
    On Exhibition
    		 Can't be requested

    Note

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