Influence of Absinthe on Impressionist and post-impressionist artists?

Posted by admin on February 25th, 2010 and filed under impressionist artist | 2 Comments »

Hey need as much info as i can get on this so any help would be muchly appreciated :D , if anyone knows of an actual artist that was influenced that would be helpful :D

From;
http://www.answers.com/topic/absinthe
"Numerous artists and writers living in France in the late 19th and early 20th century were noted absinthe drinkers who featured absinthe in their work. These included Vincent van Gogh, Édouard Manet, Amedeo Modigliani, Arthur Rimbaud, Guy de Maupassant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Verlaine. Later artists and writers drew from this cultural well, including Pablo Picasso, August Strindberg, Oscar Wilde, and Ernest Hemingway. Aleister Crowley was also known to be a habitual absinthe drinker. Emile Cohl, an early pioneer in the art of animation, presented the effects of the drink in 1919 with the short film, Hasher’s delirium.

Two famous painters who helped popularize the notion that absinthe had powerful psychoactive properties were Toulouse Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh. In one of the best known accounts of absinthe drinking, Oscar Wilde described the feeling of having tulips on his legs after leaving a bar. Today it is known that absinthe does not cause hallucinations. Thujone, the active chemical in absinthe, is a GABA antagonist; and while it can produce muscle spasms in large doses, there is no evidence that it causes hallucinations. It has been speculated that reports of hallucinogenic effects of absinthe may have been due to poisonous chemicals being added to cheaper versions of the drink in the 19th century, to give it a more vivid color."

2 Responses

  1. Kari Says:

    Absinthe was popular in Paris at that time so there were probably many artists that used it. Look up Manet, he would be the one I would most likely point to.
    References :

  2. Melmoth the Wanderer Says:

    From;
    http://www.answers.com/topic/absinthe
    "Numerous artists and writers living in France in the late 19th and early 20th century were noted absinthe drinkers who featured absinthe in their work. These included Vincent van Gogh, Édouard Manet, Amedeo Modigliani, Arthur Rimbaud, Guy de Maupassant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Verlaine. Later artists and writers drew from this cultural well, including Pablo Picasso, August Strindberg, Oscar Wilde, and Ernest Hemingway. Aleister Crowley was also known to be a habitual absinthe drinker. Emile Cohl, an early pioneer in the art of animation, presented the effects of the drink in 1919 with the short film, Hasher’s delirium.

    Two famous painters who helped popularize the notion that absinthe had powerful psychoactive properties were Toulouse Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh. In one of the best known accounts of absinthe drinking, Oscar Wilde described the feeling of having tulips on his legs after leaving a bar. Today it is known that absinthe does not cause hallucinations. Thujone, the active chemical in absinthe, is a GABA antagonist; and while it can produce muscle spasms in large doses, there is no evidence that it causes hallucinations. It has been speculated that reports of hallucinogenic effects of absinthe may have been due to poisonous chemicals being added to cheaper versions of the drink in the 19th century, to give it a more vivid color."
    References :

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.