A new study led by researchers from the University of Liverpool (Great Britain) and published in the journal Neuropsychology suggests that painters’ brushstrokes could identify certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease or the Parkinson disease.
For this study, the researchers examined the works of 7 painters, two of whom (Salvador Dali and Norval Morrisseau) had known Parkinson’s disease, while two others (James Brooks and Willem De Kooning) had Parkinson’s disease. Alzheimers. While the other three (Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet) had aged without suffering from neurodegenerative disease.
Their canvases have been studied and analyzed by computer in order to accurately detect the characteristics of the lines and brushstrokes.
Diagnose the disease in its early stages
The analysis revealed obvious trends in the fractal dimensions (the artist’s way of filling the space of the canvas) of different painters. Fractal analysis is generally used to determine the authenticity of a canvas. This time, the analysis showed a clear demarcation between artists who had experienced neurological deterioration and those who had not.
“We hope our discovery will open up new avenues of research that will help diagnose neurological disease. in its early stages“says Dr. Alex Forsythe, lead author of the study.
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