While in Egypt, he encountered some Arab men smoking a water pipe called a hubbly-bubbly. He spent five days smoking with those Arab men, though the men didn't speak, Dadd was fascinated by the strange pipe and the sound it made, convinced it was a coded message from the ancient Egyptian God, Osiris. After the encounter, Richard suffered from persistant headaches and odd behavior. His traveling companion attributed it to sun stroke. In 1843, they landed in Paris, Dadd left Phillips, returned to England, where his family had him see a Physician specializing in Mental Illness, he had shown signs of violence. On August 28th, 1843, his father took him for a rest on doctors orders, up to a chalk pit hole in a forest area, called Paddock. Richard murdered and dismembered his father with a knife and razor, then fled back to Paris, where he tried slashing a tourists throat.
French Police arrested him, sent him back to England for trial, after he confessed to killing his father. Richard Dadd was found insane and in July of 1844, sent to Bedlam Asylum for the criminally insane, now known as Bethlehem Mental Hospital. He was there 20 years, where the doctors encouraged his painting, which had a calming effect on him. Then he was transferred to Broadmoor Asylum in the Berkshire Moors, 32 miles from London, England, where he spent the rest of his life and died. He died from Acute Lung Disease at the age of 69. Some of his paintings became classics and are displayed in London Museums.
While in Egypt, he encountered some Arab men smoking a water pipe called a hubbly-bubbly. He spent five days smoking with those Arab men, though the men didn't speak, Dadd was fascinated by the strange pipe and the sound it made, convinced it was a coded message from the ancient Egyptian God, Osiris. After the encounter, Richard suffered from persistant headaches and odd behavior. His traveling companion attributed it to sun stroke. In 1843, they landed in Paris, Dadd left Phillips, returned to England, where his family had him see a Physician specializing in Mental Illness, he had shown signs of violence. On August 28th, 1843, his father took him for a rest on doctors orders, up to a chalk pit hole in a forest area, called Paddock. Richard murdered and dismembered his father with a knife and razor, then fled back to Paris, where he tried slashing a tourists throat.
French Police arrested him, sent him back to England for trial, after he confessed to killing his father. Richard Dadd was found insane and in July of 1844, sent to Bedlam Asylum for the criminally insane, now known as Bethlehem Mental Hospital. He was there 20 years, where the doctors encouraged his painting, which had a calming effect on him. Then he was transferred to Broadmoor Asylum in the Berkshire Moors, 32 miles from London, England, where he spent the rest of his life and died. He died from Acute Lung Disease at the age of 69. Some of his paintings became classics and are displayed in London Museums.