Libération de la créativité artistique et neurologie : étude de trois cas Emergence of artist talent and neurology: three cases

The effect of brain injury on the creative output of artists is a well-documented but intriguing topic. Less common is the development, after a brain injury, of an artistic output in individuals who previously did not have such capability. Painting, drawing, composing songs or classical music, poetry, craftwork is a non-exhaustive list of reported activities. They have been reported in cases of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), epilepsy, subarachnoid haemorrhage, subthalamic stimulation, Parkinson’s disease with dopaminergic treatments. Here we report two cases yet published of de novo drawing in FTD patients and one new case of de novo artistic behaviour following left insular and secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) brain injury. In this case, a 36-year-old woman discovered de novo artistic capabilities for painting, with irrepressible and compulsive need for painting (hyperpainting), but also changes in her ability to feel emotions. In addition, she had a typical spontaneous and provoked neuropathic pain that was worsened by using cold colours for painting suggesting some kind of synaesthesia. These findings suggest that the left insular-SII cortices could be viewed as a crossroad between emotional, thermosensory, pain, and motivational functions. This case report may contribute to the literature on cognitive/behavioural changes after brain injury, on neurobiological basis of artistic creativity, but also Article de synthèse