{"id":86,"date":"2024-12-19T12:24:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T19:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/?p=86"},"modified":"2024-12-19T12:28:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T19:28:07","slug":"van-goghs-turbulence-el-grecos-astigmatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/?p=86","title":{"rendered":"Van Gogh’s Turbulence, El Greco’s Astigmatism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurbulent skies have often inspired artists, particularly in the iconic swirls of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night<\/em>. \u2026 In contrast to previous studies that examined only part of this painting, all and only the whirls\/eddies in the painting are taken into account in this work, following the Richardson\u2013Kolmogorov’s cascade picture of turbulence. \u2026 This result suggests that van Gogh had a very careful observation of real flows, so that not only the sizes of whirls\/eddies in The Starry Night<\/em> but also their relative distances and intensity follow the physical law that governs turbulent flows. \u2026 Our study, thus, unveils the hidden turbulence captured within The Starry Night<\/em>.\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1914, the ophthalmologist Germ\u00e1n Beritens wrote the book El Astigmatismo del Greco<\/em> that claimed that El Greco<\/a>\u2019s elongated perspective could be explained by astigmatism, which is the result of a cornea not being perfectly spherical, affecting how the brain processes light.\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is another article that corroborates Beritens\u2019s theory. The article focuses on the painting to the left, entitled \u201cPainting of an Old Man,\u201d though it is thought to be a self-portrait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 <\/strong>Icono-diagnostic is used for the retrospective diagnosis of neurological disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 <\/strong>Congenital enophthalmos, strabismus and amblyopia are identified in El Greco’s attributed self-portrait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 <\/strong>Right cortical lesion resulting in left side neglect is shown to be present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/strong>Agraphia consistent with left cortical lesion is testified by documentary evidence.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The similarity in both theories is that Van Gogh and El Greco simply painted what they saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s of course possible that Van Gogh saw<\/em> turbulence, even though it is \u201chidden\u201d to everyone else. Kolmogorov’s theory of turbulence is a mathematical framework for understanding how energy transfers through turbulent fluid flows. It is not an induction from observation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did Van Gogh also see turbulence in the face and coat of his physician, Portrait of Dr. Gachet<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech.\u201d Vincent Van Gogh. Not: I see turbulence everywhere and I paint it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Maybe the astigmatism theory explains the form of El Greco\u2019s Portrait of an Old Man<\/em>. But his most important works are all distended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vision of Saint John<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surely this is a creative act, a new form of expression in painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science has not been able to explain creativity. So, scientific attention to art is a piecemeal attempt to side-step creativity. Van Gogh and El Greco did not create new modes of painterly expression. They simply painted what they saw. In Van Gogh\u2019s case, he had an astonishing ability to see air turbulence. El Greco had a visual defect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Wilde, in other respects a Romantic, denies creativity. \u201cNo great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.\u201d The artist simply paints what he sees, although what he sees seems to be the result of some mental or physiological aberration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll close with this quote. \u201cArt is not what you see, but what you make others see.\u201d — Edgar Degas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/aip\/pof\/article-abstract\/36\/9\/095140\/3312767\/Hidden-turbulence-in-van-Gogh-s-The-Starry-Night?redirectedFrom=fulltext<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/art-world\/el-greco-eye-condition-2439250<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.jns-journal.com\/article\/S0022-510X(16)30780-8\/abstract<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Science has not been able to explain creativity. So, scientific attention to art is a piecemeal attempt to side-step creativity. Van Gogh and El Greco did not create new modes of painterly expression. They simply painted what they saw. In Van Gogh\u2019s case, he had an astonishing ability to see air turbulence. El Greco had a visual defect.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,8],"tags":[26,28,27],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-philosophy","tag-creativity","tag-el-greco","tag-van-gogh"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bobyanal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}