American artist William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1995, at the age of 61. In response to the illness, and in an effort to try to better understand what was happening to his mind, Utermohlen embarked on painting a series of self-portraits throughout the rest of the years of his life. Utermohlen died in 2007, and his portraits depict his heartbreaking, haunting psychological deterioration.

See more of Utermohlen’s work here.