Fiona Tan

Fiona Tan’s selection of works from the Rijksmuseum collection offers insight, inspiration and wonder
Published to accompany the exhibition Fiona Tan: Monomania, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (4 July – 14 September 2025)
Monomania addresses the shifting boundary between what we consider normal and abnormal

Fiona Tan takes Théodore Géricault's Portret van een kleptomaan (c. 1822) as the starting point in a quest to discover the origins of nineteenth-century psychiatry. The portrait is part of a series known as ‘monomanias'. Géricault presumably painted these at the request of psychiatrist Georget, who was convinced that mental disorders were visible in patients’ faces. The paintings grab the viewer’s attention because of their representation of the human mind and the link between art and early psychiatric theories. Tan, fascinated by the mutability of identity and representation, explores what was understood by monomania and how mental illness was depicted. These questions guided her through the Rijksmuseum collection.

In this richly illustrated publication Tan leads the reader on a tour of rare photographs, etches by Goya and Ensor, busts by Messerschmidt, forgotten paintings and Japanese masks. She connects these objects with her own work, including her new video installation Janine’s Room