Creativity and Disease

Dr. Sandblom explores the intriguing connections between illness, art and creativity. He elucidates the ways in which specific ailments affect the creative personality. Discussing the influence of mental illness, physical infirmity, pain and addiction on 140 authors, artists and composers-among them Byron, Dostoyevsky and William Styron, artists Goya, Klee and Monet, and composers Mozart, Schumann and Beethoven.In this twelfth revised and enlarged edition of a ground-breaking study on the life and work of some of our greatest artists, Dr Philip Sandblom explores the intriguing connections between illness, art and creativity. He elucidates the ways in which specific ailments inform and influence the creative personality and discusses the effects of mental illness, drug addiction and severe pain on 140 authors, artists and composers. Many outstanding talents are discussed - among them Byron, Walter Scott, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Proust and William Saroyan, the artists Goya, Frida Kahlo, Klee, Matisse and Monet, and the composers Mozart, Schumann and Beethoven. Heavily illustrated, the book contains over 100 paintings and drawings in color and black and white. Dr Philip Sandblom was born in Chicago in 1903 and educated in Sweden where he became professor of surgery and, later, President of the University of Lund. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgery in England, Edinburgh and Ireland, and of the American College of Surgeons. 'The fantastic erudition of this volume is heightened by the simplicity of its style: informal, chatty, with sly wit, impressive in range and content."?"Annals of Surgery"