David Blum Collection

The unique paintings David Blum created throughout his life, and increasingly during his battle with cancer, are a window into his spiritual journey…We are reminded of the resilience of the human spirit, the power of art to help us understand life, and the role creativity can play in healing and transcendence. —Yo-Yo Ma

The David Blum Collection is a sequence of 43 paintings donated to ISAP by Sarah Blum. David was an internationally acclaimed conductor and writer. His collection of paintings is derived from a lifetime of numinous archetypal dreams, where David’s later cancer experience becomes a part of his whole story—a coda to his thirty-five-year journey towards wholeness.

On 15 November 2024, ‘A Celebration of the Gift of David Blum’s Paintings’ was held at ISAP. This event was an intimate tribute to David and Sarah led by Murray Stein and Peter Ammann, personal friends of David and Sarah. Sarah was also ‘present’ in the form of a lovely, recorded personal tribute, ‘The Soul of David Blum’. Lucienne Marguerat and Penelope Yungblut offered touching reflections on the healing power of images, based on some of David’s pictures. A surprise visit by flutist Pamina Blum, daughter of the artist, rounded out the unique and moving event.

This video rendering of the event is offered free to all who are interested in the lifelong encounter with the unconscious through dreams.

To quote David, “I cannot explain the dreams; rather, they explain me. The dreams are greater than I am; they demand to be recorded and assimilated. My deepest intention is for this work to reveal the healing and redemptive potential of the collective unconscious. My words, act, at best, as a bridge to an ever-deeper realization of the transformative power of dreams.” (Appointment with the Wise Old Dog, p. 15, by David Blum. Chiron Publications, 2020)