My Eyes in the Time of Apparition - August Natterer

A haunting, precise watercolour study by August Natterer, depicting his own eyes as he perceived them during a visionary experience.

August Natterer, a German engineer who spent much of his later life in psychiatric care, produced a body of work that documents his internal visual experiences. This specific piece, My Eyes in the Time of Apparition, captures a recurring motif in his output: the direct representation of his own ocular perception during moments of hallucination. The composition is stark, featuring two disembodied eyes floating against a neutral, aged paper background.

Natterer utilised a precise, almost clinical line quality to delineate the anatomy of the eyes. The irises are rendered with meticulous attention to colour and texture, using shades of blue, gold, and brown to create a sense of depth. The surrounding skin tones are applied with a delicate wash, providing a contrast to the sharper, more graphic treatment of the pupils and lashes. The work avoids unnecessary ornamentation, focusing instead on the singular, haunting quality of the gaze.

This image belongs to a broader series of drawings Natterer created to explain his visions to his doctors. He viewed these drawings as objective records of his experiences rather than artistic expressions. The lack of context or setting forces the viewer to confront the eyes directly, creating an immediate and unsettling engagement. The faint, ghost-like text visible in the background adds a layer of mystery, suggesting the presence of hidden thoughts or annotations that remain partially obscured. As a piece of Art Brut, it offers a rare glimpse into a highly individualised visual language, stripped of conventional artistic training or influence. The clarity of the execution, combined with the subject matter, provides a compelling example of how personal experience can be translated into a visual format with striking precision.