early drawings - musical compositions (1904-1907)

According to the medical records Adolf Wölfli began drawing in 1899. The first preserved works date from 1904. From these early days only a little more than 50 drawings have survived from an estimated original tally of 200 – 300 items. Wölfli called these black-and-white pencil drawings on virgin newsprint “musical compositions“, and signed them as “Adolf Wölfli, composer of Schangnau“. Among the basic structural elements are the empty musical notation lines, while narrative scenic depictions are set in a richly ornamental framework and complemented by texts.