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[Blindness in painters]
1Laboratoire de la Vision des Couleurs, CHNO des Quinze-Vingts, Paris.
Unlabelled:
The purpose of this study was the inventory of historical painters who were blind, and the analysis of their attitude in the face of the blindness.
Methods:
The population study was extracted from the dictionary of painters by Benezit. The method of the study was ophthalmological, to assess precisely the type and the etiology of the blindness; and psychological and artistic to study the reactions of the painters.
Results:
Blindness was found among 85 painters. They were 5 cases of transitory blindness; 20 cases of unilateral blindness; and 60 cases of bilateral definitive blindness. The psychological attitudes of the painters were either negative, with depression, and even suicide (5 cases); or positive, with perseverance to paint till to blindness, teaching of the painting after blindness.
Conclusions:
The small number of painters with a blindness caused by a precise etiology was disappointing, but the variety of the reactions gave a good account of the attitude of the painters who became blind.