Monet complained of cataracts interfering with his ability to see colors for 10 years before he finally underwent surgery to have them removed. Degas had retinal eye disease that frustrated him for the last 50 years of his long career. Marmor chose to focus on Degas and Monet for these simulations because both artists suffered from eye disease that was well-documented in historical records, journals and medical histories. It's well-known that such artists as Monet, Degas, Rembrandt, Mary Cassatt and Georgia O'Keefe all reached their heights of artistic vision while facing a decline in their ocular vision. 'Contemporaries of both have noted that their late works were strangely coarse or garish and seemed out of character to the finer works that these artists had produced over the years,' Marmor wrote in a paper titled 'Ophthalmology and Art: Simulation of Monet's Cataracts and Degas' Retinal Disease' that was published in the December issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology. But their paintings grew significantly more abstract in later life as, coincidentally, their eye problems increased. 'The fact is that these artists weren't painting in this manner totally for artistic reasons.'ĭegas and Monet were both founders of the Impressionist era, and their artistic styles were well-formed before their eye disease affected their vision. 'These simulations may lead one to question whether the artists intended these late works to look exactly as they do,' said Marmor, who has long had interest in both the mechanics of vision and the vision of artists.

The artist's signature vibrant colors are muted, replaced by browns and yellows. Monet's later paintings of the lily pond and the Japanese bridge at Giverny, when adjusted to reflect the typical symptoms of cataracts, appear dark and muddied. In Marmor's simulated versions of how the painters would most likely have seen their work, Degas' later paintings of nude bathers become so blurry it's difficult to see any of the artist's brushstrokes. Combining computer simulation with his own medical knowledge, Marmor has recreated images of some of the masterpieces of the French impressionistic painters Claude Monet and Edgar Degas who continued to work while they struggled with cataracts and retinal disease. Literally.Īfter writing two books on the topic of artists and eye disease, the School of Medicine ophthalmologist decided to go one step further and create images that would show how artists with eye disease actually saw their world and their canvases. Michael Marmor, MD, wanted to know what it was like to see through the eyes of an artist. A current photograph of the same bridge, blurred as it might appear to someone with a moderate cataract.

Before your eyes disease