brilliant people
Did Leonardo da Vinci have a second Mona Lisa: The Riddles of the “Iselworth Mona Lisa”
For many decades, there has been debate about whether the Iselworth Mona Lisa is a genuine, earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous work, which attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre every year. The opinions of experts, however, vary greatly.
“Mona Lisa”
The portrait of the mystery woman Mona Lisa (or “Mona Lisa”) is the most famous creation of European painting. The canvas is a female waist portrait. A lady sits on the terrace against the backdrop of a foggy landscape. Her shoulders are turned three quarters, her right hand rests on her left (this position of the crossed arms corresponds to all the rules of decency), the smile is barely perceptible, and her eyes look at the viewer. It is traditionally believed that this is a portrait of Lisa Gerardini, wife of the wealthy Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo (hence the second name of the picture). Continue reading
Creativity for the Mentally Ill: A Book That Changed History
Sometimes you can hear such a statement that in order to create a masterpiece, you must be either a genius or a madman. Tarragon – the hero of the play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Becket, said that “we are all born crazy. And some of them remain … “Yes, and where is the line that separates genius from madness? In 1922, a German psychiatrist published a book in which he showed the work of the mentally ill, and this book made a splash among both the psychiatric society and artists.
The fact that some very talented, and even brilliant people suffered from various mental disorders is not news. So, it is known that Gogol suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, and Leo Tolstoy often had bouts of depression that alternated with numerous phobias. Maxim Gorky was prone to vagrancy and pyromania, and some experts insist that Lermontov suffered from a form of schizophrenia that he inherited from his mother.
Mental suffering – whether they are caused by objective life difficulties or real mental disorders, really somehow affect people’s creativity. And the German psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn undertook to investigate this influence. Continue reading
