Friday, January 11, 2013

good company


After my confession in the previous post,
I heard from a couple of cataract compatriots.
Both very fine painters.

We are in good company. 
Claude Monet founded Impressionism
 through vision veiled by cataracts.
He painted his Waterlilies half-submerged by them.

   
Claude MonetReflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond, c. 1920

Here's an interesting Wiki bit:

In 1923, Monet underwent two operations to remove his cataracts: the paintings done while the cataracts affected his vision have a general reddish tone, which is characteristic of the vision of cataract victims. It may also be that after surgery he was able to see certain ultraviolet wavelengths of light that are normally excluded by the lens of the eye; this may have had an effect on the colors he perceived. After his operations he even repainted some of these paintings,
 with bluer water lilies than before.

3 comments:

brian eppley said...

Hey Sam. Great optic topic. Kudos for dropping word verification ( the sound one is even more fun). When you get all fixed up hope the Jungian snow cows still hold up. I've spent so many years trying to paint out of focus it's catching up. Due for a trip to the eye doc myself. Mostly because the Krazy glue holding the screws in my eyeglasses doesn't hold up anymore but vision is deteriorating. (Degas). If I'm a dude as opposed to wimmin with cataracts I'll say so. I'm not proud but am damn near legally blind. Wine does seem to help :)

Shelley Smart said...

Can I use the color thing as an excuse for why I can't match colors? I can make up my own, but not so easy to match. Maybe I'll keep the cataract then I can paint like Monet!! Cool.

A friend who had her cataract(s) removed reported that, to her great joy, the world was a brighter and more colorful place.

I had the same reaction upon hearing I was growing a cataract -- WHAT? I'm not old enough!! I hear that 60 is the new 50.

But great info!

http://carolking.wordpress.com said...

Thanks for the info. I hope my bad eyesight will eventually lead me to being a better painter.

thanks for the photo too. I just fell into it and stared and stared.