The beautiful hues of suffering

All of the movie enthusiasts who saw every movie throughout the illustrious 1970s and 1980s must undoubtedly recall the numerous characters’ unpronounceable illnesses. It had to be a hospital scenario when the obvious stethoscope-wielding doctor came out of the operating room to inform the relatives in waiting that the patient had a disease whose name meant “cat meowing” in Mandarin. For the following twenty-four hours, no statement on the likelihood of survival could be made. Thankfully, no movie patient has ever perished from these perplexing illnesses because of mother prayers that move mountains or the hero/heroine’s unwavering will to overcome the medical science’s rules.

Unfortunately, real life isn’t always nice. Millions of individuals die each year from many illnesses that go untreated and unnoticed. While more well-known illnesses like AIDS and cancer are spoken about and given special attention via awareness campaigns, many uncommon diseases are still completely unknown. Since 2008, February 29 has been recognized as Rare Diseases Day, a rare day in and of itself, to help bridge this knowledge gap.

Most people think of artists as very creative individuals who are immune to the ills of everyday life. Contrary to popular assumption, there are several examples in art history of well-known artists who fought uncommon illnesses and nonetheless created masterpieces until their illness claimed their lives.

One of the most significant Spanish painters of the eighteenth century, Francisco Goya, had a serious impairment to his hearing in 1793 from an illness that went misdiagnosed. As a result, his work was also seriously affected. Conceptually, his works began to darken gradually. Goya maintained that, in spite of his detractors’ dismissal, his sickness gave him a hitherto undiscovered viewpoint on life. After experiencing what is now thought to be Meniere’s illness for a long time, he ultimately withdrew from society and created his renowned “Black paintings.” The paintings, which were dreadful and eerie and are now regarded as the artist’s best works, were created on the walls of the artist’s house during the latter phases of his life when he was physically and mentally hopeless.

In addition to bipolar illness, which were both then undiagnosed conditions, Vincent van Gogh also suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy. His paintings have been brought to life in traveling immersive exhibits. His frequent usage of yellow may have been caused by the adverse effects of his medicine, which caused yellow patches to develop. Before taking his own life in 1890, he fluctuated between times when he worked intensely and times when he was depressed.

In 1935, the German artist Paul Klee began to experience an unexplained illness that caused damage to his skin and internal organs. In spite of his uncommon illness, which went untreated until 1940, the artist painted angels, skulls, and death during his last years. Ten years later, the condition was determined to be scleroderma, an autoimmune illness that caused the connective tissue to stiffen.

The list of people who endured hardship may go on, but what matters most is that they never wavered in producing their finest work while embracing their new circumstances. This serves as a reminder that suffering is voluntary, even when it is unavoidable.