Acid Trip Experiment

Nine drawings made by an artist during a 1950s LSD experiment, reproduced with the attending doctor's original observation notes and the artist's own words at each stage.

Nine drawings, one dose of LSD

In the late 1950s an artist was given a dose of LSD 25 and free access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. His subject was the doctor who administered the dose. Over the hours that followed he produced nine drawings while an attending doctor recorded his behaviour and his own words.

The drawings below are reproduced with the original observation notes.

Drawing 1

First drawing, done 20 minutes after the first dose (50ug). The patient chooses to start drawing with charcoal.

Drawing 2

Portrait sketched in heavy black strokes, the features broken apart and crossed by long straight lines — (50ug + 50ug) The patient seems euphoric. "I can see you clearly, so clearly. This... you... it's all... I'm having a little trouble controlling this pencil. It seems to want to keep going."

Drawing 3

Face reduced to a few bold sweeping brush lines, the nose and jaw still recognisable — Patient appears very focused on the business of drawing. "Outlines seem normal, but very vivid. Everything is changing colour. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that's now active, my hand, my elbow... my tongue."

Drawing 4

Angular tangle of thick strokes with a face only barely readable inside it — Patient seems gripped by his pad of paper. "I'm trying another drawing. The outlines of the model are normal, but now those of my drawing are not. The outline of my hand is going weird too. It's not a very good drawing is it? I give up, I'll try again..."

Drawing 5

Single unbroken looping line forming a rough face — Patient follows quickly with another drawing. "I'll do a drawing in one flourish... without stopping... one line, no break!" Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.

Drawing 6

Dense grey and black abstraction with radiating spikes, the face dissolved into overlapping shapes — Patient tries to climb into the activity box, and is generally agitated. He responds slowly to the suggestion he might like to draw some more. He has become largely non-verbal. "I am... everything is... changed... they're calling... your face... interwoven... who is..." Patient mumbles inaudibly to a tune.

Drawing 7

Patient retreated to the bunk, spending approximately two hours lying down, waving his hands in the air. His return to the activity box is sudden and deliberate, changing media to pen and water colour. "This will be the best drawing. Like the first one, only better. If I'm not careful I'll lose control of my movements, but I won't, because I know. I know."

Drawing 8

Patient continues to move about the room, intersecting the space in complex variations. It is an hour and a half before he settles down to draw again. He appears over the effects of the drug. "I can feel my knees again, I think it's starting to wear off. This is a pretty good drawing. This pencil is mighty hard to hold." He is holding a crayon.

Drawing 9

Small loose sketch of a seated figure in heavy shading, unfinished at the edges — Patient sits on the bunk bed. He reports the intoxication has worn off except for the occasional distorting of our faces. We ask for a final drawing, which he performs with little enthusiasm. "I have nothing to say about this last drawing, it is bad and uninteresting, I want to go home now."

Dan Petrovic · May 28, 16:26