The brain is the control center for our entire body. It regulates breathing, understands pain, and can comprehend the impossible. The science to start understanding the brain started with Franz Gall who founded the idea of Phrenology. According to The Victorian Web, “In the nineteenth-century, it was believed that by examining the shape and unevenness of a head or skull, one could discover the development of the particular cerebral "organs" responsible for different intellectual aptitudes and character traits” (The History of Phrenology). The theory was the start in examining he different parts of the brain. However since then many advances in technology has allowed neuroscientists to really research the brain eventually disprove Phrenology.
In art, many artists have pushed the boundaries of “expanding the mind” to create their work. It was popular among many writers and artists in the 60s, such as Ken Kesey who wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Most recently a French artist drew self portraits of herself under the effects of LSD. LSD is a drug that causes hallucinations and turns off the part of the brain that constrains consciousness, allowing free flow of thought (Medical Daily). Looking at her self portraits it is interesting to see the mental effects of LSD on the brain transferred to paper. The mind seems more fluid and colorful under the influence. The US government also partook in experiments whereas drugs affect the mind. For example, in the late 1950s an artist was given a tab of LSD with pencil and paper to draw the medic. In the beginning his drawings were more straight lines and were able to see a face. Soon the drugs started to take effect and at around 2 hours and 45 minutes his drawings were much more abstract until the come down, 8 hours later.
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