2023-08-27 16:30:00
Can art overwhelm? This is not a subject of philosophy, but the finding of a strange syndrome identified in Florence, causing dizziness and delirium.
By Sophie Hienard The writer Stendhal described this art-related disorder during his trip to Italy. © Paolo Gallo / Shutterstock / Shutterstock / Paolo Gallo Published on 08/27/2023 at 4:30 p.m.
Florence, Italy, 2008. A tourist wanders between the works of the Accademia Gallery. In front of him, finally, stands a huge statue five meters high. All in white marble, a man holds a leather strap in his left hand. The youthful face, but the frank gaze. This is David, before his encounter with Goliath. In front of so much splendor, the visitor begins to feel dizzy, his heart throbs, then he collapses. Sunstroke, you think?
This scene, with its unusual appearance, nevertheless reflects a recurring phenomenon. An abundance of beauty can create psychosomatic disorders, which are very strong in some people. This state of confusion is known as “Florence syndrome” or “Stendhal syndrome”. Yes yes, like the writer of the apprenticeship novel The Red and the Black (1830).
Stendhal and “passionate feelings”
During his trip to Italy, Stendhal was indeed confronted with this overflow of beauty. He describes this disorder in Rome, Naples et Florence in 1817: “I had reached this point of emotion where the celestial sensations given by the Fine Arts and passionate feelings meet. Leaving Santa Croce, I had a heartbeat, life was exhausted at home, I walked with the fear of falling. »
READ ALSOThe Vermeer hid anotherTo regain his senses, the writer had the brilliant idea of reading a poem on a bench… Which made his condition worse, accentuating the images he saw through the stanzas. Predictable? Probably yes. One can also wonder if this is not the posture of a tortured artist. The literary critic Julian Barnes found no trace of this fact in Stendhal’s diary.
An art attack
This emotional disorder was however identified by the head of the psychiatric department of the Florence hospital Graziella Magherini in 1989. In her study, based on twenty years of observation, the Italian psychiatrist identified 106 patients, presenting similar signs. All were on a trip, far from home and without landmarks, and had suffered a psychic decompensation, which manifests itself by an episode of anxiety or delirium.
The researcher was able to draw up some sociological characteristics, common to the people she met. On the one hand, those who are concerned have received a religious or classical education and are people who live alone. On the other hand, the tourists are foreigners but do not come from Asia or North America, since their culture is too far removed from the Latin one. Symptoms include dizziness, difficulty breathing, rapid heart rate, even chest pain and fainting. Travelers can be disoriented, even feeling a form of loss of identity. And without taking any illicit substances.
READ ALSOHow bacteria can save a work of artDoes Florence syndrome really exist? It is true that the number of cases reported to the 16 million visitors each year seems minimal. And we should, perhaps, compare this data with that of other large cities to have a perspective. However, more than the capital of Tuscany itself, it is about highlighting the surprising effects of works of art on a person.
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