In Switzerland, photography found its way into psychiatry during the first decade of the 20th century; psychiatrists often took to photography themselves. The pictures were used in textbooks, specialist articles and lectures (as slides). In 1930, 12 clinics addressed the general public with brochures richly illustrated with photographs. At the HYSPA, the ‘National Exhibition for Hygiene and Sport’, psychiatry occupied a hall under the label ‘psychohygiene’. Twenty-six psychiatric institutions presented themselves with photographs of architecture, treatment, leisure activities and – labelled with diagnoses – patient portraits. Against this backdrop, I examine two undated photographs from the Waldau Clinic. One shows a so-called ‘ward for restless women’, the other a patient at the door to his isolation cell. What psychiatric concepts can be gleaned from these photographs? Which concepts of primitivism were adopted in psychiatry? What do we learn about the scope of action available to female patients, and what social sanctions do they face behind these ‘tamed’, indeed didactic-looking photographs? And finally: how far can an interpretation go?

Date: 3.6.2026 at 5.30 p.m.
Costs: €5
Language: German


Credits: Photographer Paul Senn, Taken in 1936 for the magazine “Der Aufstieg,” but not published. Cell corridor of the Psychiatrische Klinik Waldau, Bern.