To the Editor.
—In the recent article by Drs Cummings and Zarit,1 the reproductions that are supposed to illustrate the progressive intellectual decay of the artist show in fact a progression toward better pictorial quality, if not toward genius.
Figure 1 in the article, painted near the time of onset of Alzheimer's disease, is a vulgar, unskilled amateur painting with gross errors in perspective and nauseating colors.
Figure 2, painted seven years after the onset of disease, is the work of a genius, recalling the best of Van Gogh.
Figure 4, completed at the nadir of his Alzheimer's dementia, could compete with the best attainments of modern art.
This leads to one question: Are our contemporary artists collectively suffering from advanced Alzheimer's or from another kind of dementia?
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