AUTHOR=Petcu Eugen Bogdan , Sherwood Katherine , Popa-Wagner Aurel , Buga Ana Maria , Aceti Lanfranco , Miroiu Rodica Ileana 

TITLE=Artistic Skills Recovery and Compensation in Visual Artists after Stroke

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2016

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2016.00076

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2016.00076

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Abstract
Background: Art is a characteristic of mankind which requires superior central nervous processing and integration of motor functions with visual information. At the present time, a significant amount of information related to neurobiological basis of artistic creation has been derived from neuro-radiological cognitive studies which have revealed that subsequent to tissue destruction the artists continue to create art. The curent study aims to review the most important cases of visual artists with stroke and to discuss artistic skills recovery and compensation as well as artistic style after stroke. 
Methods: The role of various central nervous system regions in artistic creation was reviewed on the basis of previoulsy published functional studies. Our PubMed search(1995-2015) has identified ten interanationally famous artists with right cerebral stroke as well as five with left cerebral stroke who survived and continued to create art after stroke. As the artists included in this review lived at various times during the XXth century and in different countries clinical information related to their case was limited. However, it appears that artistic skills recovery and compensation appear within days after stroke. Some of the artists would subsequently change their artistic style. All these elements are evaluated in the context of specific clinical cases. 
Conclusion:  The post-stroke artistic skills recovery and compensation with development of a new style or the opposite,  regaining the previous pre-stroke style, represents a significant element of clinical importance in medical rehabilitation as well as neuroaesthetics which requires further evaluation. At the present time, the molecular mechanisms of artistic creation are poorly understood and more standardized clinical and experimental studies are needed.