Blurred Vision or Impressionism?

History is filled with innumerable “what ifs…”. You could spend months, years, even a lifetime – probably going crazy in the process – imagining all the hypothetical outcomes of almost any known event over the centuries. The concept of the “butterfly effect” shows us how changing just one tiny detail could change the course of an event beyond recognition.

Let’s consider the art world, for example. Could we speculate as to whether the popular 19th-century Impressionist movement – and indeed the artists who were subsequently influenced by it – might not have occurred without some visual problems?

Vision Problems in the Art World

This might sound like a bit of a jump, but there are several examples of famous artists who were plagued by issues with their vision. The American artist Mary Cassatt, for instance. Having spent most of her adult life in France amid the heyday of the Impressionist movement, Cassatt was forced to stop her artistic endeavours years before her death due to cataracts.

And then we have the French painter, Georges Seurat, largely credited with being the leader of the neo-Impressionist movement in the late 1800s. Seurat took an almost scientific approach to applying paint to his canvases. With the use of tiny dots (a style known as pointilism), he created images that appeared both simplistic and complex. With the blend of many coloured dots adorning the canvas, one can wonder at how these pictures would be interpreted by those with colour blindness.

But arguably, the artist whose work and style may have been most influenced by issues with sight was the founder of impressionism himself: Claude Monet.

Impressionism or Blurred Vision?

Claude Monet is undoubtedly one of the most famous and celebrated painters in history. His works adorn galleries and museums all around the world and continue to influence artists to this day. Throughout his painting career, Monet’s works distorted scenic vistas into a wonderful presentation of brush strokes and colours.

But as he grew older, Monet’s works noticeably lost subtlety. His brush strokes became bolder, colours became predominantly blue, orange and brown, and images lost detail and flowed into one another. Was this a conscious evolution of his trademark style, or was it a result of his deteriorating eyesight?

We know that in his later years, Monet suffered from the effects of cataracts – a natural part of the ageing process, but a hugely disruptive one when left untreated. As the condition worsened, Monet was forced to paint from memory. Not only would the world around him have appeared more blurry, but it would also have been covered in a yellow-orange haze.

In 1922, Monet consulted an ophthalmologist, Charles Coutela, who recorded a visual acuity of PL (light perception only) in the right eye, and 6/60 in the left. Nonetheless, Monet continued to paint almost until his death at the age of 86. When he could no longer clearly distinguish the colours on his palette, he would rely on memory and the labels on his paint tubes.

Averse to undergoing surgery, Monet sought the advice of a number of ophthalmologists over the years. He reported some success with the help of mydriatics and eventually agreed to Cataract Surgery. However, the procedures available at the time were much more primitive than today’s routine treatments, and he achieved limited success.

In his later years, Monet was fitted with special glasses that he complained distorted his vision and exaggerated colours. Perhaps this is reflected in his final works. As he reached his eighties, Monet’s paintings were noticeably less distinct as the subject matter became almost a distortion on the canvas.

It is impossible to know how Monet wanted his final paintings to look. But it is almost certain that, had his cataracts been successfully removed, they would have looked much different. If Claude Monet had been born a few decades later, he would likely have undergone routine cataract removal surgery. Alas, we are left to wonder how his painting style may have differed. What if…?

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