Skapande mystik. En psykologisk studie av Violet Tengbergs religiösa visioner och konstnärliga skapande

The main purpose of this book is to study the relation between the personal, religious visions and auditions of the internationally known Swedish artist Violet Tengberg (born 1920) and her artistic creations. In the descriptive part of the study the artist’s "outer" activity in the form of artistic creation, development of motives, and exhibitions is presented. Complementary to this presentation, the artist’s "inner" world, consisting of religious visions, is described. These experiences supply us with a key to understanding the symbolism in Violet Tengberg’s art. After this descriptive part a theoretical part follows, in which the author along with a critical discussion of the psychology of creativity and mental imagery, presents and criticizes religio-psychological studies of religious visions. The innovation in the present study consists of an integrated model of analysis, based on the psychology of creativity and mental imagery. This model is applied to the study of religious visions. An important result is that Violet Tengberg’s symbolism and visionary experiences mutually reinforce each other. Her paintings are an expression of creative mysticism.