Bethlem Museum of the Mind
@bethlemmuseum.bsky.social
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A museum dedicated to the history of mental healthcare. Free admission. Current exhibition - Crisis Point 02 April-09 August 2025
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We're inspired by the resilience and artistic vision of Charlotte Johnson Wahl, an OCD sufferer and Maudsley Hospital resident in the 1970s. This OCD Awareness Week we have a new addition to the Museum’s collections - Johnson Wahl's vibrant painting 'Morning Group'.

#TogetherAgainstOCD #OCDWeek
Have you visited the Between Sleeping and Waking exhibition? We want to hear from you! 🫵
Take this 5-minute survey to share your feedback and help us continue to improve our programming uk.culturecounts.cc/s/2sJn5j
Thank you 🙏

#betweensleepingandwaking #bethlemmuseumofthemind #dreams
359 years ago today, on 14 September 1666, the first meeting of the Court of Governors was held at Bethlem. An excerpt (with only two commas in the entire piece!) from the Minutes explains that this was because of a "fierce & lamentable" fire at Bridewell Hospital.

#onthisday #londonhistory
Ever thought about keeping a dream diary?
Bethlem psychiatrist Edward Hare kept dream records spanning 60 years! Entries range from the mundane to the magical, from the 1930s to the 1990s. Discover these diaries in the Between Sleeping and Waking exhibition, on now!
‧₊˚☁️☾⋅☁️˚₊‧
bit.ly/MOTM_dreams
6 September every year is National Read a Book Day! What better excuse to curl up with a book in our reading nook in the Between Sleeping & Waking exhibition 📖💫 Or browse the Museum's library for some reading inspiration 📚
Open today until 5pm!
#betweensleepingandwaking #nationalreadabookday
On 24 August 1815, 122 Bethlem patients were taken across London in Hackney carriages from Moorfields to the new Bethlem Hospital site at St George’s Fields (pictured).

Remarkably, the move took place without any incidents or accidents, and cost the hospital around £18.

#OnThisDay
We can't wait for another Saturday of Between Sleeping and Waking - the response has been amazing, thank you to everyone who has visited so far!

We have the perfect cosy reading nook for visitors of all ages, make sure to stop by and read one of our bedtime stories ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

Open Wed-Sat 9:30-5pm.
Get that New School Year, New Notebook feeling with our range of quirky and affordable notebooks, exclusive to Bethlem Museum of the Mind!
All available online bit.ly/MOTM_Shop_all 📗📒📝📓
Bethlem and the Maudsley have provided specialist services for children throughout their history, at times having classrooms and education services onsite (Bethlem still has a school). Pictured here is a creative class at the Maudsley in the 1950s.

#londonhistory #mentalhealthhistory #backtoschool
Will you be studying Psychology in the new term? Get some inspiration in advance at Bethlem Museum of the Mind! Discover over 750 years of mental health history, from 1247 until the present day.
Open every Wednesday-Saturday 9:30-5pm, free entry.
bit.ly/visitmotm
It's the first Saturday of our Between Sleeping and Waking exhibition! 💭

Featuring artworks created over a period of 200 years, that speak to themes in archetypal dreams and nightmares; being chased, going to school, being late and many more.

Free entry, open Wed-Sat 9:30-5pm
We are thrilled to announce that our new exhibition, Between Sleeping and Waking, is officially open! 🎀✂️🖼️ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁
The exhibition, and entry to Bethlem Museum of the Mind, is free and open Wed-Sun 9:30-5pm.

bit.ly/MOTM_dreams

Image: Everything is Real Except God and Death by George Harding
Sneak peek of the new exhibition 👀 'Between Sleeping and Waking' opens tomorrow and is already looking impressive! Kate McDonnell's immersive installation, Night Tides, dominates the space and evokes the restlessness, the disconnected thoughts, and whispered prayers of insomnia.

#insomnia #dreams
Ever dreamt of being chased, falling, or flying? Our new exhibition, 'Between Sleeping and Waking', will bring together 200 years of artwork to show you are not alone!
Opening this Thursday, 14 August *ੈ✩‧₊˚ bit.ly/MOTM_dreams

Image: Let There Be Light, Edgar Farrar, 1943.
🚶 The next Bethlem History Walk will be on Saturday 16 August! Join us for an invigorating walk around the stunning grounds of the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Tickets are £3 and selling fast bit.ly/45brtqk

🚶

#historywalk #museum #londonmuseum #londonnature
"Very moving exhibition. Felt curious, then deeply sad. As Anna Motz said - if crime and punishment become the entire story, we trivialise lives...we separate crime and humanity. Really brilliant. Thank you."
Don't miss your chance to see Crisis Point, today is the last day! bit.ly/visitmotm
😺 Happy #internationalcatday from Bethlem Museum of the Mind, where we are surrounded by Louis Wain cats daily, and pestered by Arlo Pickles (the resident Hospital cat) regularly 🐾

bit.ly/louiswainshop

#louiswain #bethlemroyalhospital #bethlemmuseumofthemind #cats
Happy birthday Louis Wain! Born on this day in 1860, Wain was one of Bethlem's most famous patients. He was best known for his cat drawings, which remain enduringly popular today. We hold 55 of Wain's artworks in our collection, some of which are on permanent display 😺
#louiswain #onthisday
Did you spot us on The Guardian? 📰📱
'Between Sleeping and Waking: Hospital Dreams and Visions' opens on 13 August. Not long to go now! ⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆
bit.ly/3H1DAgt
Dreams and nightmares exhibit to open at world’s oldest psychiatric hospital
Artwork and poems from contemporary artists and former Bethlem hospital patients to go on show
bit.ly
𓂃🖊 THIS Saturday at Bethlem Museum of the Mind! Femina Culpa: poetry inspired by Victorian women's experience of crime. Linda McKenna, Milena Williamson, and Emma McKervey tell stories of ordinary women caught up in criminal justice and mental health systems. 🎫 bit.ly/4o22z41
#feminaculpa #poetry
Femina Culpa: poetry inspired by Victorian women's experience of crime
Bethlem Museum of the Mind explores the history of art and mental healthcare, on the site of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, or 'Bedlam'.
bit.ly
Last chance to see Crisis Point! Only one week to go ⏰️ Explore the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system through rarely seen artworks and powerful stories. Featuring Richard Dadd, Donald Hume, and more.
bit.ly/visitmotm Wed-Sat 9:30-5pm.
#crisispoint #mentalhealth
On 1st Aug 1817 Richard Dadd was born. He became one of the most promising young artists of his generation until, age 26 and suffering from delusions, he murdered his father. He spent 42 years in Bethlem and Broadmoor asylums, continuing to paint until his death in 1886.
#richarddadd #onthisday
🚦Roadworks between Bromley South & Bethlem Hospital have finished & the SL5 bus that links Bethlem Museum of the Mind with East Croydon and Bromley South rail stations is back up to its usual speed 🚍 Buses are now double-decker so twice as many people can make the trip! 🏛️𓂃𓏧🚌
bit.ly/visitmotm
Coming to Bethlem Museum of the Mind on Saturday 09 August 2025, 2-3pm: Femina Culpa Poetry Collective! Linda McKenna, Milena Williamson, and Emma McKervey tell stories of ordinary women caught up in criminal justice and mental health systems.

Free, pre-booking is recommended: bit.ly/4o22z41
Is it real, or just a dream? The existence of the mental processes we undergo while sleeping, and in the spaces between sleeping and waking, are undoubted. It’s never just a dream ⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆
'Between Sleeping and Waking' opens on 13 August 2025.

Image:
'Dream Flight', 2011, Allan Beveridge.