A ‘Fisk’ out of Aqua

Presumably an oblique and distorted expression of the artist's experience of his or her situation, A ‘Fisk’ out of Aqua is an imaginative and witty ‘psychotic realist’ painting. The picture is one of the most popular with both staff and visitors to the Bethlem Royal Hospital Art Collection. We know only that it was painted at Bexley Hospital in the 1950s and that the artist was somewhat dismissively described as a “ chronic paraphrenic”. Meaning in the picture remains as enigmatic as the artist, and the image fascinates and baffles the viewer.