On the occasion of International Rare Disease Day which takes place on February 28, Pourquoi Docteur introduces you to Stendhal syndrome, a curious pathology that leads people to literally fall in love with a work of art. Sometimes to the point of destroying themselves.
Like hemnegligence, which causes patients to be unaware of half of their body, Stendhal syndrome is one of the 6,000 to 8,000 rare diseases identified worldwide. This psychosomatic disease causes accelerated heart rate, suffocation or even hallucinations in some people exposed to too many works of art.
Art, the symbol of an inner drama?
It may be in front of a place, a painting, a landscape … Stendhal’s syndrome can also lead to a loss of the sense of identity and the sense of direction, dizziness, violent chest pains, tachycardia and can sometimes lead to depression. The subject goes from a state of elation, of feeling of omnipotence, to panic attacks and the fear of dying. In some, this disease lasts several days and requires treatment in a specialized environment.
Does art have an immense force that can transmit absolute emotion? One of the specialists in this syndrome even believes that we are all carriers of Stendhal syndrome and that this phenomenon remains diffuse for most of us. In certain conditions of privacy, a work of art functions for the viewer, as the symbol of an inner drama.
A disease born from the thunderbolt of a writer for a church
This rare disease is named after the famous French writer who, during the Italian campaign in 1817 – war was part of literary distractions at the time – fell in love with the beauty of a church in Florence: “I was in a sort of ecstasy. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty, I saw it closely, I touched it, so to speak. I had arrived at that point of emotion where the heavenly sensations given by the Fine Arts meet. and passionate feelings. Coming out of church, I had a heartbeat, life was exhausted at home, I walked with fear of falling. ”
This description of Stendhal, this feeling, this disturbance felt by the traveling writer in front of the Florentine beauties gave its name to the symptom, and this text constitutes one of the first descriptions. In 1919 lan Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini observed and described more than 100 case similar among tourists to Florence. Since then, each year, ten people are victims of uncontrolled reactions in front of the “David” of Michelangelo, the “Venus” of Botticelli or other works of art.
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