We can be thankful that modern medicine exists today, but if
it had existed during the 16th to 19th centuries, the world
might have missed out on the work of some of the world's
most creative painters, sculptors and poets.
Pathologist Dr. Paul Wolf thinks that some of the world's
greatest artists may have been creatively driven by the
effects of their disease or the drugs and chemicals they
ingested to try to heal themselves. Michelangelo depicted his
own mental and physical conditions in paintings and
sculpture. His right knee was swollen and deformed by gout.
He would go for days on a diet of bread and wine, drinking
wine processed in lead containers and possibly working with
lead-based paints. Lead can injure the kidneys, resulting an
increase in uric acid, which causes gout. It is also believed
that he suffered from depression. Would Michelangelo have
been driven to create the marvelous fresco paintings on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel had this depressive disease been
diagnosed and treated with modern drugs?
If we could somehow transport painter Vincent Van Gogh to a
modern hospital today, doctors would diagnose him with
epilepsy and manic-depression and treat his symptoms with
lithium carbonate instead of the drug digitalis, which was
prescribed for him by his doctor. Absinthe, which he
reportedly enjoyed to excess and may have used to treat his
illnesses, wouldn?t be available at the local liquor store.
Absinthe has the side effect of inducing "yellow vision," and
yellow is a major theme in Van Gogh's art. Patients over-
medicated with digitalis can also develop yellow vision or see
rings of light.
Some modern medicines cause people to see a tinted world
as well. For instance, some men taking Viagra see everything
colored slightly blue?are we going to notice this in some of
our modern art? Only time will reveal this.
Art credit: http://www.freeimages.co.uk
Dr. Lynne Kitei is a physician, but she's also a real
artist, who
writes books and makes films. This week on
Dreamland Whitley talks to her about meditation and
her near-death experience (and hearing a doctor talk about
this is a mind-opening experience). Be sure and get a copy of
her book
and DVD.
If you order both together from the Unknowncountry.com
store, input coupon code KT1 to get $2.00 off your order!
DR. LYNNE ON THE TRAVEL CHANNEL: Dr. Lynne will appear
on a Travel Channel special about the Phoenix Lights that
premieres on February 27 at 10PM Eastern Time.
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