 |
 |
   |
|
| Home | Magazine | For Employers | Contact Us | FAQ | |
|
|
|
|||||||
 
We appreciate art for its aesthetic value and its insight (and sometimes for the fact that it goes with our sofa), but do we ever consider what it might tell us about an individual's medical condition? • Painter Albrecht Dürer's
(1471-1528) self-portraits reveal that he had a severe
squint.
• Painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's
(1864-1901) self-portraits reveal his deformities,
which have been attributed to pyknodysostosis, a
rare autosomal recessive disorder. (According to
the
National Organization for Rare Disorders characteristics
of this disorder include: "short stature; a large
skull with a protruding forehead and bulge on the
back of the skull; unusually broad hands and feet
with abnormally short, brittle nails; a bluish discoloration
of the whites of the eyes (sclera); an unusually
small face; a receding chin; abnormalities of the
teeth; and fragile bones that may fracture easily.")
• Painter Dick Ket's (1902-1940)
self-portraits lead specialists to believe that he
had Tetralogy of Fallot (the most common form of
cyanotic congenital heart disease) with dextrocardia
(a condition where the heart is located on the right
side of the chest).
• The portrait of English
King George III by painter Johann Zoffany (1733-1810)
leads some specialists to believe that the king had
porphyria. (There are at least eight types of porphyria,
which are generally characterized by light sensitivity
causing rashes, neuropsychiatric problems, and abdominal
complaints.) Or do we ever consider how medical conditions affect art? • It is believed that poor
central vision may have been a factor in the development
of the Impressionist movement.
• It is believed that figure
and color distortion following increasing blindness
led to changes in the works of painters such as J.M.W.
Turner (1775-1851) and Claude Monet (1840-1926).
Turner began painting predominantly in red-brown
tints as he began suffering from cataracts, and Monet
began working in a more bluish tinge after a 1923
cataract operation.
• Painter Edvard Münch
(1863-1944), creator of the famous painting "The
Scream" (considered an outstanding image of angst),
suffered from mental illness. However, after undergoing
treatment for mental illness, his work became "less
anguished and more lyrical and bright."
Discuss This ArticleHave something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article. Like this article? Read more! Browse our archive of 1,107 articles. Also, see our master index of all MedHunters articles! Find a JobChoose your career: MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 18,226 jobs with 2,533 hospitals and other direct employers. We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now. Have an article or story for MedHunters? Email us today at submissions@medhunters.com. |
|
