In 1917, while Hermann Rorschach was working in an asylum in a quiet Swiss town, he dreamed up an experiment to test the human mind: a set of cards with carefully shaped inkblots. For many years he struggled with the theories of Freud and Jung, while simultaneously absorbing the aesthetic trends of the era - futurism and Dadaism. Endowed with the gift of an artist, Rorschach came to the conclusion that our essence is less what we say, as Freud thought, and more of what we see. Alas, Rorschach died suddenly, and soon after his death his test came to America, where it received development and new life. He found himself in the service of the military after Pearl Harbor, with his help they tried to look into the souls of the defendants at the Nuremberg trials and during the Vietnam War. It became part of the toolkit of advertisers, Hollywood producers and journalists, and served as inspiration for Andy Warhol and even Jay Z. The test was also taken by military personnel, job seekers, parents involved in litigation, people with mental illness and those who wanted to understand themselves. And it is still used today. This is the first and only biography of Hermann Rorschach and a cultural biography of his father. The author, Damion Searles, draws on previously unpublished letters and diaries, as well as previously unknown interviews with family members, friends and colleagues of the Swiss psychiatrist. He was able to tell the story of the creation of the test, the controversial story of its revival - the persistence of a psychiatric and cultural concept. This original and elegantly structured book sheds light on the most outstanding example of the synthesis of science and art of the 20th century.