Paul Goesch

1885 to 1940, Germany

Paul Goesch is among the few trained artists whose work appears in the Prinzhorn Collection in Heidelberg, although Hans Prinzhorn did not mention him in his book Artistry of the Mentally Ill (Bildnerei der Geisteskranken), published in 1922.

He was probably not authentic enough because he had studied architecture. His Expressionist paintings and drawings made him part of the avant-garde in the German art scene. He began to work in the West Prussian civil service and then spent approximately 20 years in psychiatric clinics in Schwetz, Göttingen and Teupitz. His diverse gouache paintings include portraits as well as depictions of architecture and Christian and mythological images. Paul Goesch was murdered by doctors in 1940 – a victim of the Nazi “euthanasia” programme.

His work can be seen in the collection of Gerhard and Karin Dammann, Switzerland and the Treger-Saint Silvestre collection, Portugal. As of 2021, Paul Goesch has also been represented in the 921 works of the “Donation d'Art Brut de Bruno Decharme” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Selected works