Ailments of great artists, as a test of fortitude: What Kustodiev, Renoir and others suffered from

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

- almost three centuries ago, said the philosopher, writer and thinker of the Enlightenment Jean-Jacques Rousseau. And he was relatively right. Diseases remind people that life is limited and that no one in this world, even the most famous, wealthy and talented, is immune from them. And often illness is given to a person as a test of the strength of the spirit. And today we will talk about how some famous painters fought with their incurable ailments.

Brilliant prankster. Fedor Vasiliev (1850-1873)

And let's start with the youngest, most promising, incredibly talented painter of Russian nature Fyodor Vasiliev, whose fame came at 21, and at 23 he was gone. In total, only five years were allotted to him for creativity, and during this time he was able to achieve what another artist and his whole life would not be enough for.

"A retired reader of the Society of Free Pranksters" - this is how the mischievous and joker Fyodor Vasiliev signed his letters. In the artistic environment, he was sincerely admired, he was a student of Ivan Shishkin himself, and Ilya Repin himself called him "a phenomenal youth."

To our great regret, it was because of the negligent attitude towards his health that his life path ended so early. Vasiliev, on a youthful prank, ate snow, heated up, and caught a cold in his throat. But I didn't really bother with treatment. Meanwhile, a trifling ailment soon grew into consumption, and later even into a terrible disease - tuberculosis of the larynx.

In the last year of his life, anticipating his imminent death, Vasiliev wrote a lot and unrestrainedly. He almost stopped sleeping at night, forgetting himself in work. One painting helped him not to think about death. For no one believed that the artist would recover, however, like himself. There were times when doctors forbade the artist to move. He was not allowed to leave the house, and even to get out of bed. And for the last few months, he was completely forbidden even to speak, so as not to bother his vocal cords. And Vasiliev had to communicate with the help of "conversational notebooks". The artist died in Yalta in 1873.

And so that the reader can fully appreciate the scale of the talent of this master, I will give one fact. On the anniversary of Vasiliev's death, Ivan Kramskoy arranged a posthumous exhibition of the young artist. All paintings on display to the public were sold out before the opening of the exhibition, which was an unprecedented case. By the way, Empress Maria Alexandrovna acquired several albums with drawings by the artist, and Pavel Tretyakov acquired 18 paintings by Vasiliev for his collection. Someone, but a well-known philanthropist and collector, like no one else, knew a lot about painting.

You can learn more about the short but incredibly bright life of the talented Russian painter from our publication: What you can do in 23 years of life: Russian landscapes by Fyodor Vasiliev.

Illness as a test. Boris Kustodiev (1878 - 1927)

An incredible fate fell to the lot of the Russian painter Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev. Reading his biography, you begin to understand how great the strength of the human spirit can be. For what the artist had to endure in the last years of his life can be regarded only as a struggle for every day of existence on earth.

It all started when, at the age of 31, pains in his hand began to bother the artist. Boris Mikhailovich became alert only when discomfort in the neck appeared and severe headaches with vomiting began. After a while, the pain became so strong that it literally drove the artist to despair:

This is where the artist began to visit doctors. X-rays, various kinds of treatment, as well as consultations of the luminaries of Russian medicine … As a result, a diagnosis was made - the consequences of an incompletely treated old bronchitis. In other words, tuberculosis. Doctors at that time saw tuberculosis in almost every bronchitis and sent patients to Switzerland to the famous professor Rollier in this field. Kustodiev went there, where the luminary of medicine for a year treated the patient with tuberculosis of the cervical spine.

And only after a while, having got to the Berlin clinic to the German neurologist Hermann Oppenheim, Kustodiev was correctly diagnosed: “You have never had any bone tuberculosis. You have a disease of the spinal cord, apparently, there is a tumor in it, you need an operation,”Oppenheim said. The artist was operated on at the end of 1913. To his incredible joy, the movement in his hands was restored. But now the pains started in the legs. However, further treatment was out of the question. The First World War was on the verge, and Kustodiev was forced to return to Russia. He gradually lost the ability to move independently. Irreversible paralysis of the lower body developed rapidly and soon the artist was practically paralyzed.

There was an urgent need for a second operation. The artist's wife spent five hours in painful anticipation in the corridor of the clinic, when a surgeon came out of the operating room and said: The woman, realizing that she would soon be waiting for her with her paralyzed husband, confidently answered: Not one month passed before the artist was at home. On the prohibition of doctors to work, Kustodiev only dismissed: … Gritting his teeth tighter and overcoming unbearable pain, he began to write lying down. His wife came up with various devices to make his job easier. Friends built a special hanging easel for the painter, on which a stretcher with a canvas could move in different directions.

And the most amazing thing is that Kustodiev created his best creations, saturated with a festive mood, incredibly colorful color and love of life, living in a cold Petrograd apartment, being half-starved and practically helpless, overcoming unbearable hellish pain. The last months of his life, meted out to the 49-year-old artist, he did not live - he was gradually dying: motionless legs, torn apart by hellish pain, a dry, completely weakened hand, from which a pencil constantly fell out.

And finally, the villainous fate kind of laughed at the artist - ten days before his death, he received a notification that the Soviet government had allowed him to go abroad for treatment and allocated money for this trip. But, all this was already completely unnecessary. Kustodiev developed pneumonia from constant hypothermia. In May 1927, he was gone.

All this time, next to the artist was his wife Yulia Evstafievna, a faithful companion, devoted friend and permanent Muse. Read about the incredible power of their love in our publication: Favorite woman of Boris Kustodiev, in whose name he overcame hellish pain and created his best works.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - crippled but not defeated

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) - a recognized master of French painting, one of the great impressionist painters, who created a huge number of paintings in his life. However, not many people know that the artist painted a considerable part of his creations while being chained to a wheelchair and with crippled hands.

The fate of the great impressionist was simply incredible after one accident that turned his whole life upside down. And the countdown to all of Renoir's misfortunes began in 1897, when, on a rainy summer day, a 55-year-old artist broke his right arm, falling on stones from a bicycle, which he often rode in search of subjects for his paintings. For more than a month, the artist had to walk with a plaster cast. And since he could not not work, he began to write with his left hand, sometimes turning to his wife for help. When the bandage was removed from the injured hand, the artist was very happy that now he can work as before.

But every disease, as you know, has its own patterns of development. And so it happened with the French artist. The injury gave impetus to the onset of joint disease. Less than six months later, the pain in my hand again made itself felt. The attending physician, puzzled, made the assumption that Renoir began to develop arthritis - a natural phenomenon after fractures. It must also be said that in that era, medicine considered arthritis to be a completely unexplored area. However, the doctor's diagnosis, unfortunately, was justified. Moreover, in 1902, as a result of a cold, a partial atrophy of the nerve of the left eye began. And within a few months, Renoir's face acquired that immobility that confused those around him.

The stiffness in the joints of the legs increased every day. And if earlier the artist traveled from home to his workshop with the help of two sticks, now, in order to overcome the path of a hundred meters, he needed crutches. Numerous doctors who examined the patient just threw up their hands and shook their heads in bewilderment, all unanimously claiming that medicine knows nothing about this form of joint disease.

In 1904, an exhibition of Renoir's last paintings was held at the Salon d'Automne, and with such success that the artist for a short time forgets about his illness. Renoir was literally absorbed in his art, which from year to year only flourished, despite his terrible illness. And as paradoxical as it sounds, it was she, the disease, that prevented him from dissipating into anything other than painting.

Nevertheless, the disease soon recalled itself again. And now Renoir was forced to desperately fight for the safety of the function of his hands. he often repeated. Therefore, in an attempt to improve the mobility of the joints, he several times agreed to surgery. - he said.

The most tragic moment for the artist was the realization that his gnarled fingers could no longer hold the brush. Nevertheless, the artist was not going to give up painting. In order to prevent the shaft of the hand from hurting the fingers, they were wrapped in linen bandages, and then a hand was inserted between the thumb and forefinger. The fingers could no longer clench the hand, they now seemed to cling to it. And what was surprising, in such a terrible state, the artist's hands did not tremble and his eyes remained vigilant and faithful until the end of his days. The surrounding painter was surprised a lot by the dexterity and confidence with which he wielded his crippled hand.

In 1912, Renoir, who could no longer move independently, was shown to one of the best Parisian specialists in rheumatic diseases, Henri Gaultier. He, having carefully examined the artist, confidently said that he could put the patient on his feet in a few weeks. Relatives took it as a utopia. And Renoir himself reacted to this statement very philosophically. In the depths of his soul, he so wanted to wander around the outskirts of his village again in search of plots for his canvases, and he promised to follow all the doctor's prescriptions. The main treatment was reduced to remedial gymnastics and a strengthening regimen. To the surprise of his family, a month later Renoir really felt much better.

And then the day came when the doctor who treated him announced that the artist should get up and walk on his own feet. The doctor helped him to rise from the chair, and everyone was amazed that Renoir was standing on his own feet and looking at those around him with joy. And even when the doctor dismissed the artist, he did not fall, but gathering all his strength, took the first step, followed by the second. Walking slowly around the easel, he returned to his chair. Everyone literally froze … The situation resembled a story from the Gospel Scriptures. But suddenly Renoir, unexpectedly turned to the doctor: He sat down again in a chair so that he would never get up from it again.

For almost seven more years, the artist will create his canvases, sitting in an armchair with a brush in his hand inserted between his bandaged fingers. He will ask you to build something like a large gazebo with removable glass walls, where light would penetrate from all sides. Then he will come up with many devices for painting pictures. In addition, Renoir recently wanted to paint large-sized paintings., - the artist admitted. Moreover, one invention helped him to write relatively large canvases. … Most of Renoir's last paintings were painted in this unique workshop and on this easel with drums.

In November 1919, Renoir caught a bad cold while working in the park. For two weeks he lay with pneumonia, which did not let the artist go. He slowly plunged into eternal darkness. But even in a feverish delirium, the painter continued to mentally paint a picture, superimposing on an imaginary canvas extraordinary strokes that belonged only to him. These were the last strokes of the dying Pierre Auguste Renoir.

You can learn about the childhood, adolescence and young years of a talented artist from our publication: Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Little-Known Facts from the Life of the Renowned Impressionist.

It seems that these stories will not leave anyone indifferent, and for many will serve as a kind of example for the manifestation of fortitude, perseverance and perseverance in overcoming life's troubles.