Art and vision

Pippa, as you can see loves painting but she can't imagine painting a picture with her eyes shut. How would you know where to put your brush? How would you know what colours you were using? How would your picture look?

You may think that sight is essential to art, and it is, in fact, very important. Yet a lot of artists over the years have lost some or all of their vision but have carried on creating art. So, how do they do it?

Different artists have found different ways to work around their loss of sight. Some, such as Renoir and Cézanne, were extremely short-sighted and painted what they saw, which was blurred. The great painter Monet had cataracts, which meant that what he saw was duller than before, and slightly yellowish. As a result, he started painting in duller, more yellowy colours.

One of the most common ways artists use to cope with their loss of vision is to change the materials they use for their art. For example, the painter Degas switched from painting to drawing with pastels, which he found didn’t need such an eye for detail. He also started making a lot more sculptures, which he could feel as he worked on them.

Catalina Montesinos de Brooker is a guide dog owner who has done a very similar thing. She was a painter until she lost her sight. Now she makes sculptures out of clay, even though she can only see a tiny bit of light in one eye. She has never seen any of her own work, but she still works as a successful artist!