Richard Dadd: the painter whose fantastical vision was unconfined by his 43 years in an asylum

Committed to Bethlem hospital after killing his father in a psychotic episode, Dadd inspired Angela Carter and Queen. Now a new show is exploring his paintings with a more nuanced take on his mental illness In the autumn of 1843, the influential journal Art-Union mourned “the late Richard Dadd”, an apparently kind and gentle man who a year or so earlier had been a rising star of London’s Royal Academy. Today, Dadd is known, if at all, for having murdered his father while in the grip of severe...

By Florence Hallett