It takes a special kind of vision for an artist to create a masterpiece. And by special, we mean cataracts.
After writing two books on the topic of artists and eye disease, the Stanford University School of Medicine ophthalmologist [Michael Marmor, MD] decided to go one step further and create images that would show how artists with eye disease actually saw their world and their canvases. Combining computer simulation with his own medical knowledge, Marmor has recreated images of some of the masterpieces of the French impressionistic painters Claude Monet and Edgar Degas who continued to work while they struggled with cataracts and retinal disease.
The results are striking…
It’s well-known that such artists as Monet, Degas, Rembrandt, Mary Cassatt, and Georgia O’Keefe all reached their heights of artistic vision while facing a decline in their ocular vision. Marmor chose to focus on Degas and Monet because both artists suffered from eye disease that was documented in historical records, journals and medical histories. Degas had retinal eye disease that frustrated him for the last 50 years of his long career. Monet complained of cataracts interfering with his ability to see colors for 10 years before he finally underwent surgery to have them removed.
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