“The subtlety of Nature is many times greater than the subtlety of the senses and of the understanding.”

“From 1910, while systematically working on this grand work, [Adolf] Wölfli found he desired the solitude and protection of a private cell, which he decorated with his own works, and in solitude produced a huge number of works including painted furniture. Famed psychologist Carl Jung, fascinated with mandala theory, so practically in evidence throughout much of Wölfli’s work, obtained two of Wölfli’s works for his personal private collection. Wölfli traded his works with clinic visitors in exchange for pencils, paper or other essentials, but calculated their real worth in multi-digit, astronomical notations. Ironically, today, his works do sell at auctions and prestigious galleries and command prices in tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“‘All artists coexist alongside a second self whom they beg their muse to help them find,’ [New York-based art dealer Phyllis] Kind says, suggesting that, for [Adolf] Wölfli, art-making provided a path or outlet for a search for self that he needed to pursue. Kind says, ‘Also consider the two very different parts of Wölfli that came together in his art. On the one hand, he was a miserable creature who might have undertaken his art-making as a way of getting away from his fears. On the other, he was a total braggart who showed off how extraordinary he could be — how extraordinary he imagined he could be.’”