LSD and Creativity

In a unique experiment from the late 1950s, artists drew and painted a Kachina doll before and one hour after ingesting LSD. An art history professor evaluated the works and found consistent style shifts: artists whose usual style was representational or abstract moved toward more expressionistic or nonobjective approaches. Other changes included larger size, involution, movement, altered figure/ground boundaries, more intense color and light, oversimplification, symbolic depiction, and fragmentation. Many artists judged their LSD-influenced works as more interesting and aesthetically superior, believing they were creating new meanings for an emergent world.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on creativity were examined in a unique experiment in the late 1950's. In this project, artists were asked to draw and paint a Kachina doll both prior to and one hour after the ingestion of LSD. Evaluations of these artistic productions were analyzed by a professor of art history in order to investigate the impact of LSD on artistic creativity. Certain representative changes were found in the artists' predominant style. The most significant change was noted in those artists whose styles were intrinsically representational or abstract to more expressionistic or nonobjective. Other changes noted included the following: relative size expansion; involution; movement; alteration of figure/ground and boundaries; greater intensity of color and light; oversimplification; symbolic and abstract depiction of objects; and fragmentation, disorganization, and distortion. Many artists judged their LSD productions to be more interesting and aesthetically superior to their usual mode of expression. The above-mentioned changes contributed to the artists' convictions that they were fashioning new meanings to an emergent world.