WEIRD MYSTERIES OF CREATIVE GIANTS
Creative giants in the arts often lead very unusual lives.

WHY WAS TOULOUSE-LAUTREC SO SHORT?
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was one of the most gifted painters of all time. He is also perhaps the most celebrated dwarf of all time. In 1962, two French doctors described the type of inherited skeletal abnormality that Lautrec probably suffered from: Pycnodysostosis. The "probably" had to stay for years since the Lautrec family would not allow his remains to be exhumed in order to prove the diagnosis beyond a doubt.

In 1995, Dr. Bruce Gelb and colleagues from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York announced they had discovered the gene responsible for Pycnodysostosis. They also claimed to have gathered "near proof" that Lautrec did indeed suffer from this condition. They published their article in NATURE GENETICS where they wrote, "There's always a hazard to making a posthumous diagnosis. But of all the skeletal abnormalities we know, this one seems most likely by far to be the right one."

Another Toulouse-Lautrec legend is that, although he was short of stature, he had an unusually large penis. However, Julia B. Frey, author of TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, A LIFE (Viking, 1994) points out that a photo of the artist in the nude indicates otherwise. In the photo's caption she writes, "Note short legs, genitalia and cranium appear normal."

WHAT MADE BEETHOVEN DEAF?
Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827) is regarded as perhaps the greatest of musical geniuses. He composed nine symphonies and was planning the tenth while on his deathbed. His many great musical accomplishments are even more astounding when one considers that he suffered from progressive deafness throughout his early life. He became fully deaf at age 29.

Astounding too is the fact that after becoming fully deaf, Beethoven's compositions became even more free and imaginative.

Medical historians believe that Beethoven suffered from Paget's disease. Writing in the JOURNAL OF BONE MINERAL RESEARCH in 1999, Dr. E. Monsell and colleagues from the Henry Ford Sciences Center in Detroit point out that characteristic of Paget's disease is a "loss of bone mineral density in the cochlear capsule [which] is associated with both a high-tone hearing loss and a low-tone air-borne gap".

According to Dr. P.D. Shearer of the St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, writing in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OTOLOGY in 1990, Beethoven's large head and broad brow are very characteristic of Paget's disease. As a result of his disease, abnormal bone growth crushed his auditory nerves causing his deafness.

WHY DID VAN GOGH CUT OFF HIS EAR?
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) is now regarded as a master among masters of the Impressionistic School. Although his paintings sell for millions today, Van Gogh sold only one painting in his entire life. Purchased just four months before he took his own life, Van Gogh parted with "The Red Vineyard" for a mere 400 francs.

From childhood, Van Gogh was plauged by mental illness. Chiefly he suffered from Bipolar Disorder, formerly known as Manic-Depression. His sad and tragic life was beset by a series of psychological breakdowns with pauses in-between. During such pauses, Van Gogh painted---frantically and unceasingly---until exhaustion forced him to stop.

As Bonnie Butterfield writes in THE TROUBLED LIFE OF VINCENT VAN GOGH (1998), Van Gogh cut off his ear after a particularly violent argument with fellow artist Paul Gauguin. On Christmas Eve 1888, Van Gogh first unsuccessfully attacked Gauguin with a razor and then mutilated himself. He wrapped his ear in paper and sent it to a prostitute who fainted upon seeing it.

Self-mutilation can be a symptom of Bipolar Disorder. Furthermore, psychologists studying Van Gogh's life have found a pattern in his breakdowns. Each was preceded by a perceived threat to a deep attachment he felt for a loved one. The first of these occurred shortly before his beloved younger brother Theo announced his engagement. Van Gogh thought he was losing Theo to someone else forever. The ear-severing incident took place after a bitter argument with Gaugin. Van Gogh may have been homosexually attracted to Gaugin. Van Gogh had earlier described their friendship as "electric".

WHY DID ERNEST HEMINGWAY ALWAYS ACT "MACHO"?
When it comes to image, there is no more masculine writer than Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). He wrote almost exclusively about prize-fighters, matadors, soldiers, big-game hunters---all super masculine types. In real life, Hemingway would rather wrestle another man, than talk about his own work.

Psychologists call this Hemingway's case "reaction-formation". In order to deny an inner reality about one's self, one unconsciously behaves in exclusively the opposite manner from that which the inner reality would normally dictate. For Hemingway, in an effort to deny his strong feminine side, he unconsciously went overboard in the opposite way---always behaving and writing in a super masculine way.

This is a common pattern among men. With respect to their own sense of masculinity, the most insecure men have to prove it constantly. The most secure men never have to prove it past adolescence---they already know what they are---they've long since past the test.

Hemingway's life was a constant testing of his own shaky sense of manhood. This is no surprise. From infancy through his teens, Hemingway was raised as a girl. His mother wanted a girl and was disappointed when Ernest was born. She tried to reverse it. She called him "Ernestine", dressed him in girl's clothes well into his teens, and even tried to make him over into an identical twin of his elder sister, Marcelline.

It didn't help that Hemingway had a tiny penis. As fellow author Sydney Franklin said, "Hemingway's big problem all his life, I've always thought, was he was always worried about his Picha [penis] . . . the size of a 30/30 shell."

A 30/30 shell is about the size of a woman's little finger.

Complete News Archives: 2002 July: How many senses do we have? June: The Samson Syndrome May: Phantom Limb Syndrome April: Can we talk to the unborn? March: Movie Revelations February: Navel Secrets January: If Whales Can Do It? 2001 December: Body Odysseys of the Famous November: The Psychology of Smell October: Light, Colour and Music Therapy September: Three Brain Mysteries August: Baldness July News June: Laughing