Depiction of Women’s Isolation in Iranian Contemporary Paintings; A Philosophical-Psychological Analysis Based on Ervin Yalom's Views  

 
 
 
 
Isolation is a tangible and not very desirable experience for humans—an inevitable experience of loneliness and lack of meaningful relationships. Due to the persistence and intensification of the feeling of isolation throughout human life, scholars in the fields of psychology and social sciences have paid special attention to it, offering similar and sometimes distinct opinions on the matter. These opinions are generally based on three perspectives on isolation: 1. Humans are always alone and cannot overcome this destructive feeling; 2. Humans are entirely capable of overcoming the destructive feeling of isolation; and 3. Being alone or not is related to the issue of self-awareness and self-restraint. In fact, proponents of the first perspective have a philosophical approach to the phenomenon of isolation, considering human isolation as a fundamental and inescapable matter; proponents of the second perspective believe that the feeling of isolation has specific causes which resolving them will resolve the feeling itself—causes such as an unsuitable home or social environment, poor financial situation, or having an idealistic view on human relationships that creates a vast gap between what is desired and what is real; and finally, proponents of the third perspective claim that the lack of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, and consequently, the uncontrollability of emotions and desires, leads to the feeling of isolation. Therefore, isolation is a complex and multifaceted issue that can occupy the minds of researchers in various fields such as psychology, sociology, and philosophy, as well as the minds and hands of artists.
Images of isolated individuals, especially women, can be found abundantly in contemporary paintings. Iranian painters, too, have created works with the theme of isolation during the years 1390 to 1400 (2011 to 2021), in some of which the depicted character is a woman. This article studies six examples of these works which are painted by Rasoul Akbarloo, Parsa Hosseinpour, and Delaram Maroof. All these examples are executed in oil on canvas; they mainly have horizontal frames and centralised compositions; and stylistically, they are close to Expressionist works, as they depict inner states and emotions rather than the external world. Expressionists generally emphasise independent individual experiences and the expression of emotions and excitements. In this regard, some Expressionists use mimetic techniques, while others employ a non-realistic language. For example, early 20th-century German Expressionists largely deviated from mimetic patterns, or later, painters of the Abstract Expressionism movement in America created expressive but entirely abstract works. In contrast, the study samples of this research belong to those Expressionist paintings that use a realistic language.
The main question of this research is how to analyse the depicted isolation in these paintings, based on Irvin Yalom's existential psychology. Irvin Yalom is a renowned American psychiatrist and author, and Existentialism is a philosophical school rooted in the thoughts of philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Here, existence means a specific way of being —being-in-the-world — that is unique to humans and  distinguishes them from other beings. Freedom of choice, responsibility, anxiety, meaninglessness, and the precedence of existence over essence are key concepts of Existentialism. Yalom's method of psychotherapy is influenced by existentialist approaches and is therefore based on a philosophical foundation.
With this approach, he distinguishes three types of isolation: 'interpersonal isolation,' 'intrapersonal isolation,' and 'existential isolation.' Interpersonal isolation is the type that arises due to factors such as geographical isolation or inability to establish relationships; intrapersonal isolation, on the other hand, is the result of internal disintegration and the suppression of one's emotions; and existential isolation, which is more fundamental than the previous two types, refers to the inherent isolation of humans—the kind of isolation that one cannot escape during birth, life, and death. This research, in fact, seeks to answer the question of whether the isolation of women, depicted in the paintings of the 1990s in Iran, can be explained based on this Yalomian interpretation of isolation; and if so, what new understanding this approach—which is both philosophical and psychological—provides of these works.
 
Research Method
This research employs a descriptive-analytical method, with textual data collected through library research and images gathered through fieldwork. To describe isolation, this study utilises the terminology, and philosophical psychology of Irvin Yalom as well. In analysing the data, it employs Yalom’s approach alongside symbology and formal-visual analysis. The reason for choosing Yalom's approach is its interdisciplinary nature. Yalom's existential psychotherapy is deeply connected to European existentialist philosophy and focuses on human existential concepts. Isolation, alongside other concepts such as freedom, death, and the meaning of life, is a central theme in Yalom's psychology. Therefore, Yalom's reflections are suitable guides for this research, which addresses the topic of isolation. Moreover, an interdisciplinary approach to artworks generally enables a transcendental perspective on these works, viewing them not merely as artistic-aesthetic objects, but as phenomena that find meaning in connection with other aspects of life and can reveal human truths; just as this research considers paintings as revealers of the truth of human isolation.
It should be noted that the analyses in this article are conducted without knowing the creators' intended meanings and are based solely on the examination of visual data and the authors' reflections. Additionally, the personality types, mentioned in some of these analyses, are used not as symptoms of mental illness or psychological disorders, but as recognised and prevalent personality patterns, to provide a better understanding of interpersonal isolation.
 
Conclusion
The isolation depicted in each of the study samples of this research corresponds to one of the three types of isolation distinguished by Yalom. Of these six samples, three represent interpersonal isolation; two represent intrapersonal isolation; and one represents existential isolation. Among these, the analysis of cases related to interpersonal isolation is based on personality types, as Yalom considers personality type to be one of the main causes of this kind of isolation.
The findings of this research clarify that direct reference to intra-textual visual data, even without knowing the creator's intent and without external references, can provide a philosophical or psychological analysis of visual works. Such an analysis is definitely not flawless and entirely free from the analyst's preconceptions and biases; however, it can shed light on subtleties that are beyond the reach of extra-textual explorations. Additionally, this paper does not take a clinical approach to the subject of isolation, nor does it treat it as a consequence of illness or disorder. Instead, it considers isolation an inescapable human condition—a state where contemplation of it is, in fact, an approach to the truth of humanity; and the manifestation of isolation in artworks adds depth to this contemplation.