Summary: The visionary Brazilian sculptor Arthur Bispo do Rosario spent 50 years on a psychiatric ward in Rio de Janeiro, and did not even think of himself as an artist. Born in Japaratuba, the descendant of African slaves, he was exposed to a strongly religious culture and to the hybrid traditions of folk art. He had been a sailor and an odd-job man when, in 1938, he had a vision of angels bathed in light. He felt that the Virgin Mary had guided him to record the universe in visual form, in preparation for the Day of Judgment. The same year, he was hospitalised for treatment for paranoid schizophrenia. Tom Shakespeare explores his creativity, originality and imagination.
