Early Onset of Chronic Rheumatic Disease May Lead to Creative Expression: The Stories of Antoni Gaudí and Maud Lewis.

Abstract

Many famous artists had rheumatic diseases. Among them, the popular French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the Russian expressionist painter Alexej von Jawlensky, and the French fauvist and “painter of the light” Raoul Dufy were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and Paul Klee, a highly renowned Swiss-German painter, with systemic sclerosis. Their medical histories have been widely discussed, and they are examples of how creative art may help in coping with the disease1,2,3,4,5,6. Autoimmune diseases such as RA seem to occur with a higher frequency in artists, and exposure to toxins, such as those found in painting materials, and smoking have been discussed as contributing factors7,8,9. Would a chronic inflammatory pediatric rheumatic disease possibly influence artistic work? Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and other chronic rheumatologic conditions with childhood onset have a significant effect on health-related quality of life and physical function, imposing a societal and psychological burden, especially in the prebiologic era10. Art therapy has been shown to be beneficial in adults and children with chronic diseases by reducing stress and pain and enabling the expression of the cognitive and emotional ideas of the patients11,12,13,14,15. To our knowledge and in contrast to the many artists with adult-onset autoimmune rheumatic conditions, there are only 2 famous artists with known chronic pediatric rheumatic diseases: Antoni Gaudi, the unique Catalan architect, and Maud Lewis, one of Canada’s best known and most loved folk art painters. The medical literature discussing Gaudi’s articular symptoms is scarce and we are not aware of any publication on Lewis’s medical history16,17,18. Dufy experienced an episode of self-limited arthritis in childhood, but he remained …