Art + Medicine: Inside the Mind of a Collector with Shirley M. Mueller, M.D.

The science of collecting is a fascinating field, and Shirley Mueller, M.D. has devoted her life to studying the science of collecting, museum curating, and scholarship on her own collection of Chinese export porcelain. A passionate collector, Shirley has authored numerous articles and a recent book on the neuropsychological forces at play in the mind of a collector. Her groundbreaking research has contributed to museum exhibitions and scholarly papers that help us understand the inner workings of a collector’s brain. 

In our conversation, we discuss the science of collecting, her experiences as a collector of Chinese export porcelain, how museums are using scientific analysis to measure visitors’ neurophysiological responses in real-time, as well as the future of collecting online.

Shirley M. Mueller, MD is an internationally known collector and scholar of Chinese export porcelain, as well as a physician board-certified in Neurology and Psychiatry. This latter expertise led her to explore her own intentions while collecting art, which, she discovered, are applicable to all art collectors. This new understanding is the motivation for this book. Mueller not only lectures and publishes about the neuropsychology of the art collector; she also was guest curator for Elegance from the East: New Insights into Old Porcelain at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (now Newfields) in 2017. In this unique exhibit, she combined art represented by Chinese export porcelain with concepts from neuroscience to make historical objects personally relevant to visitors.

You can learn more about Shirley’s collection and scholarship on her website.