Monet’s Ultraviolet Eye
“Late in his life, Claude Monet developed cataracts. As his lenses degraded, they blocked parts of the visible spectrum, and the colors he perceived grew muddy. Monet’s cataracts left him struggling to paint; he complained to friends that he felt as if he saw everything in a fog. After years of failed treatments, he agreed at age 82 to have the lens of his left eye completely removed. Light could now stream through the opening unimpeded. Monet could now see familiar colors again. And he could also see colors he had never seen before. Monet began to see–and to paint–in ultraviolet.”
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jsveiga: Many years ago I had my left eye lens replaced (damaged by multiple retinal surgeries). This year I had the right eye lens replaced (different brand/generation), for actual cateracts.
I immediately noticed things got a more vivid blue, notably the fire from a gas stove which I see more purplish-blue than with the other eye.
Now you got me worried: Maybe the new lens is more transparent to UV, and it will have consequences to my retina in the long run…
N3O9Pr: Some “scientists” supposedly “bio-hacked” themselves for this, as well.
Diddler_kid: Claude Monet also used to walk around really fast making buzzing sounds and pinching people.
RealKingOfEarth: It might be time we start talking about performance enhancers in the Art Community
Isthisnametakenalso: Like Vin Diesel in Pitch Black?
nickbitty72: It’s also very bad for your retina. You would basically just see it as a deep violet, but then your vision would get worse over time
bolanrox: when this was posted before someone said they had their lens removed on one eye, and with that eye black lighting just looked like normal lighting to them.
PoorEdgarDerby: Didn’t he destroy a bunch of his paintings after surgery because the blurriness and off color he saw was a result of the cataracts? And he was kinda pissed nobody told him.
Personally if true that’s much cooler. The world as seen by someone with eyesight loss is much more moving.
fuckusnowman: TIL that the reason dogs shouldn’t drive is because they can’t see stop signs.
Jeremy1026: That would be very interesting today with all the artificial UV light that we are producing.
lillyisme: I wonder if he knew what was happening or if he thought he was “seeing visions”
vougue_one: Could we look at some of his paintings with a uv filter and see them more the way he did?
easybs: I just saw some of his work at the Chicago art museum. They have an impressionism exhibit right now and its awesome. One of the ladies working there said to walk left and right in front of one of his pieces, forget the name sadly, but it was like 3D. Impossible to see from a picture, so amazing! Would recommend checking this out to anyone in Chicago.
pistonian: eye doc here – this is why people after cataract surgery will say whites look soooo white outside.
GBreezy: Be did paintings of the same scene from different eyes. One was yellow and orange and the other was blue and violet. Really cool. I love Monet.
Tritoch77: This may be a dumb question, but are there any negative consequences for removing your cataracts? Is it like an appendix where it doesn’t matter if you have it removed?
mobilesuitkpop: SHARINGAN
WizardOfIF: The article says it was his left eye the title says it was his right. I’m not sure OP learned very much.
mchammer2G: The lens turns into the cataract due to the accumulation and storage of UV light over your lifetime.
FTFY
bloatedfrog: Can someone explain to me the UV flashlights you can by? Is it just UV bulbs and LEDS to appear like it’s on? Why can we see light from it?
KingKyuss: [Tetrachromacy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMCnTig3IaE)
Rustfe: Dammit repost. This made it to front page too many times.
trippingchilly: TIL if you look close enough, you can see the beauty in everyone.
akanosora: So he painted in ultra-violet color that ordinary people wouldn’t see?
Tunacrab: I can see UV naturally. It’s hard to explain…
I can’t see it as a distinct “color,” but when looking at a light source high in UV, like bright sun through the atmosphere, or a black-light, I can see additional “squigglies” in my vision. It’s very distinct, and they look like little swimmy sperms swimming through the area of UV.
Anybody else ever experience this?
UsEdScR: Aka sharringan?
Jane1994: What I want to know is would a person be able to see some of the paranormal type things they’ve captured on full spectrum cameras that record UV light? Floating mists sort of thing.
I’ve read that dogs and cats see UV light and that’s how they “see” ghosts.
Aeylwar: ULT-ULTRA VIOLENT LIGHT
rackfocus: 😮