Art Through Flawed Eyes

Written by Ariadne Danae Chavez Salinas

Graphic by Quynhmai Tran

It is not often that one stands in a museum and asks: “What can I not see? The art of three French Impressionists, Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas—who have left a colossal footprint in history and the hearts of artists and art lovers alike—beg this compelling question. Through their usage of stippling to create textures and realistic outlines, their paintings transcend dreamy and fantasy-like snapshots of landscapes and depictions of people. What casual observers and connoisseurs alike do not know, is how their poor eyesight greatly impacted the way they created their artwork: all three French Impressionists painted exactly what they saw. Monet’s cataracts were medically recorded and worsened over time. It is speculated that the yellow tones in Van Gogh’s paintings are not coincidental and were caused by a medicine or chemical that created this visual phenomenon. It is postulated that Degas had a progressive retinal disease that made his vision blurry. The obstacles of their vision impairments tell beautiful stories; three artists would use these visual impediments to produce world renowned works.

Monet Technique or Reality? Monet’s art was created to portray realistic landscapes. Audiences throughout the world remain unconscious of his medical records and receive a sense of inspiration from his fuzzy work. Unlike Van Gogh and Degas, Monet’s ocular impediments are medically recorded. From 1912 to 1922, Monet’s cataracts continuously worsened. In the artist’s early work Women in the Garden, the immense amount of detail, accuracy, and the usage of oil on the canvas to clearly build the scenery demonstrates that Monet did not have any eyesight problems. He was able to paint every detail he saw without any blurs or abnormal tones. As time passed and his cataracts progressed, Monet looked to specialists to aid with his sight issues. However, Monet did not want to undergo a surgery to get rid of the cataracts until 1923, and the development of his cataracts are exemplified in The Japanese Footbridge, produced in 1922. Through his inability to portray a realistic picture of the Japanese footbridge and its surroundings, The Japanese Footbridge exhibits not only the way Monet saw the world around him but the difficulties he faced when painting these views. The Japanese Footbridge also displays certain colors that might not have been the realistic colors and tones one sees when looking at a footbridge, suggesting the cataracts might have altered the tones and colors Monet now saw the world in. Most of Monet’s audience are not aware of these events and his cataracts but still find Monet’s style compelling.

Van Gogh

Based on his artwork, critics have theorized Van Gogh had an ocular ailment that caused a yellow lens in his vision. This occurrence is known to be caused by excessive drinking of absinthe, a potent liquor popular in France during his life there. This phenomenon has been suggested to be caused by the overuse of medication for mental instabilities. For instance, medication like “digitalis” can cause symptoms like “Xanthopsia,” which is this yellow sight that is seen in his artwork.

Van Gogh lived a socially complex and emotionally conflicting life. His mental health issues and eye perturbations are evident throughout the letters he wrote; when analyzing his paintings there is a constant usage of yellow in distinct tones. Nevertheless, since there are no medical records to back these health issues, it could be that Van Gogh chose to utilize yellow tones and colors in order to portray what he saw, like the still life above.

As one can see in his work Quinces, lemons, pears and grapes, Van Gogh used yellow tones on the surroundings and general background of only yellow fruit. Even though this produce is commonly green, the green color is overpowered by the usage of yellow. The unnatural coincidence of using yellow produce and a yellow set up and background is a clear indicator of this optic flaw.

Citations

Still, all of these are only theories. In his time, this utilization of the color yellow hindered his popularity due to the lack of realism and true colors and tones in works like the still life.Today, however, this potential sight problem now enhances the beauty of his pieces to the modern observer.

Degas

The retina’s function is to sense light and send images to the brain. Without it or with a damaged retina, a person can become completely blind. During his peak as an artist, Degas endured a progressive retinal disease that would show dramatic changes in his artwork. In Degas’ Foyer de la Danse, Degas depicts a perfect outline of the room, the position of the ballerinas, and a realistic usage of colors and tone to portray the scenery. The white and transparency in the ballerina’s tutu is perfectly placed in order to portray a realistic texture. This precision subsided as Degas’ retinal disease progressed. Thus, his paintings became cloudy and blurry, as this is what he actually saw. This can be seen in Degas’ Dancers, completed in 1887.

Between these two artworks, there are fifteen years of his worsened vision due to the progress of his retinal disease. The 1887 piece shows a large blur of green color and an out of focus perception of the ballerinas, especially the ones in the sides and background. Artistically, this could be interpreted as the passing of time or the grace of movement. However, knowing of Degas’ retinal disease allows the audience to understand that this is due to his flawed sight and the effects of this disease. The loss of detail in color and the characteristics of the scenery did not take away charm from the effect that Degas’ work had, like Foyer de la Danse in 1872. His audience found elegance in the effect his disease had on his art, and his works became a fantasia and model for the romanticization of ballerinas.

These artists’ works are incomparable, loved by all kinds of people, and seen in exhibitions throughout the world. Their names carry themes of escapism, romance, and reverie to the heads and feelings of all who think of them or see their art. There is beauty in their works, but what is even more beautiful is that these presumably visually impaired men were able to transform their difficulties with their sight into the heavenly paintings we now know and love.