# A neurological perspective on Tarsila do Amaral's “Abaporu”: migraine aura inspiring art?

## TL;DR

This paper explores how Tarsila do Amaral's painting 'Abaporu' might reflect migraine aura symptoms through its visual distortions and symbolism.

## Contribution

It proposes a novel neuroesthetic interpretation linking Amaral's artistic distortions to neurological phenomena like macropsia and migraine aura.

## Key findings

- The painting's oversized feet and hands suggest perceptual alterations like macropsia and micropsia.
- Amaral's stylistic choices align with sensory disturbances and emotional tones of migraine aura.
- The work reflects both intentional art strategies and intuitive resonance with neurological models.

## Abstract

Tarsila do Amaral's painting “Abaporu” is a seminal work in Brazilian modernist art, yet its interpretation continues to intrigue scholars due to its complex symbolism.

To examine “Abaporu” through the perspective of neuroesthetics, exploring potential parallels between its visual elements and sensory disturbances characteristics of migraine aura.

A structured review of primary and secondary art-historical sources and a systematic literature search in PubMed and Google Scholar were conducted. The analysis focused on Amaral's recurrent use of disproportion and gigantism in the 1920s and on evaluating the plausibility of a neuroesthetic hypothesis in this art-historical context.

Our analysis indicated that the gigantism and deliberate deformation in “Abaporu” belong to a consistent program already evident in Amaral's 1920s painting. From this perspective, the painting's oversized feet and hands contrasting with a diminutive head evoke perceptual alterations reminiscent of macropsia and micropsia, phenomena linked to Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and migraine aura. Its vibrant palette and melancholic undertones, likewise, resound the sensory disturbances and affective dimensions associated with migraine, suggesting that Amaral's programmatic distortions also invite a neuroesthetic reading.

While no evidence supports a medical diagnosis of migraine in Amaral, the visual motifs and techniques in “Abaporu” can be read both as deliberate esthetic strategies of her Pau-Brasil and Anthropophagic phases and as intuitively resonant with neurological models of altered perception. This dual lens enriches our understanding of art's capacity to embody complex perceptual experiences and encourages further interdisciplinary dialogue between art history and neuroscience.