Stendhal syndrome?

OMG, I didn't know there was a name for it.

As I mentioned in that thread, I had a strong reaction to seeing van Gogh's Starry Night. I suddenly started weeping, surprising even myself.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to call it Stendhal syndrome, but I had an intense reaction to specific pieces of art in Rome. This surprised me because I've always been more into Dutch Golden Age art. I lovelovelove Vermeer, but didn't have the same visceral/emotional reaction that I can remember.

I am not sure weeping counts as a true Stendhal reaction; this description lists strong physical manifestations such as fainting, rapid heartbeat, even hallucinations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

But I too have wept. I privileged to be able to see Michelangelo’s Pietà at the Vatican in 1967, when there was only a thick velvet rope between me and the masterpiece 5 feet away. The poignancy of Mary’s expression of sorrow, together with the stunning beauty of the total piece, moved me to tears.

I haven't experienced what I would call a physical reaction , but being a lifelong art lover , there are any number of works that have , for a variety of reasons , elicited a strong psychological impact for me . The responses that I've had are also prompted by music and poetry , as well . Three brief examples - This painting by Raphael , in Rome had me glued to it for half an hour ( Her eyes seemed to follow you as you circled the painting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fornarina This poem by the Victorian poet Ernest Dowson -https://poetscollective.org/publicdomain/vitae-summa-brevis/ and this composition by Claude Debussy , recalls the slow, elegant waltzes of the cafés of Budapest and Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century - https://youtu.be/5OiClD0X-Yk

OMG I didn’t know I was such a quiet weeper until seeing certain pieces of art. I’ve sometimes had to turn away or leave the room for a few minutes to compose myself.

Dresden Raphael’s Sistine Madonna
Den Haag Girl With the Pearl Earring
St Petersburg Matisse’s large collage works and thinking about him losing his eyesight
London’s National Gallery The Execution of Lady Jane Grey
Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum whole top floor!
Paris Rodin’s sequence of Balzac
Rome Borghese Gallery Daphne and Apollo sculpture
Everywhere Chagall glass and paintings
Munich Lenbachhaus Museum and The Blaue Riter school’s colorful artists

Oops my list is getting too long and I’m getting weepy. Better stop for now.

Yes, Mona. For me it was The Rape of Persephone by Bernini, in the Borghese Gallery. Bernini had amazing skill and artistry! I was enraptured by the way he was able to make the marble "flesh" be indented by the grasping hands.

Okay, so not Stendhal Syndrome, but still a strong reaction.

The only time I've seen someone be so overcome that they fainted was in a church in Quito, Ecuador. This was in La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. The interior of this church is stunning, but I don't know if the woman's reaction was to that. We attributed it to some sort of religious ecstasy. She was praying at the front and suddenly collapsed.

BB, The Rape of Persephone was one of the pieces that mesmerized me, too. I couldn't tear myself away.

Fo those who have been moved by The Bernini Sculptures , this one hour essay by the art historian , Simon Schama will take you to new heights . Not to be missed - https://youtu.be/Wet-VF2bDCA

I love art and have been to most of the best museums in the World. To me, the most amazing work is the Sistine Chapel. I didn't want to leave it was awesome. Also, my 8 year old Son was in awe and wanted to know all about the frescoes.

Also, loved the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and The Night Watch.

For me it was stumbling across the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" sculpture in the Louvre. It was on a Mezzanine between two floors and no one was around. Went back years later and the Mezzanine was covered by people sitting and eating.

Not the same effect.

I took our daughter to Paris for her high school graduation trip. The second day or so of the trip, I managed to miss a step at Versaille and go flying down the stairs. I was in so much pain, but thankfully the French pharmacies took care of me. I had a really hard time walking after that as I could not bend one leg at all. So the day we went to the Louvre, she would race from one piece of art to another and come back and tell me whether we could skip it of it if was something I would really want to see. That poor girl probably did 10,000 steps to my 100, lol. I remember hanging out at the Winged Victory of Samothrace for so long while she ventured off to scout out the various art.

Sorry, just had to share this funny memory. I was too stubborn to give up on the Louvre, so we made it work, sort of;)

I had been joking about this with friends and family after I went to the Borghese last Fall with the Berninis. Then recently with going to the Vermeer exhibition, I felt that way in the first room of the exhibition with the View of Delft and The Little Street.

Anyone remember the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith when the secondary character, Antonia, gets it in Florence and has to be cared for by nuns in a convent?

steven. Thanks for the link.

However, It won't let me watch in Canada. :(

@BB if you go to YouTube and search Simon Schama Bernini do you see any of the Bernini 4 part series?

Thanks, Mona. The same thing happens. I can find it, but I'm blocked from viewing it. I get the message "Video unavailable. This video contains content from BBC Studios, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

That’s too bad. My local library has it - check yours?

I'm sorry , but I've noticed over the years that some YouTube content is blocked based on licensing areas . Its available (the complete series ) from Amazon for fifteen dollars , ( the other episodes are well worth watching as well )

Oh, thanks. I'll see if Amazon.ca has it. I did think of trying the library, as well. Thanks.

Okay. I found it on Prime Video if I do a free trial of BBC Select. Adding to my watch list. Thanks!

I once wept in a museum. It was the old Abbey Library at St. Gallen, Switzerland, looking at 9th century music books. I mean 9th, not 19th.

Really, Tom_NM? How do you know this? The reaction I discussed was at the MOMA, although the artist was not North American.

My husband and I have visited many galleries in North America, also, and we personally collect works by North American (mostly Canadian) Indigenous artists.

"Sorry but I’ve always thought Stendhal Syndrome was a manifestation of jet lag or too much running around." - that's funny, Tom.

The kind of art I like will likely be laughed at or scoffed at by the serious-minded and connoisseurs. Best keep quiet.

The kind of art I like will likely be laughed at or scoffed at by the serious-minded and connoisseurs.

I think you might be jumping the gun , There are all kinds of art , and those who have a true appreciation of its different incarnations don't tend to be snobbish or restrictive . One form of art is that of " Illustration " , and there were many artists who worked in that discipline . Toward the end of what is known as " The Golden Age of American Illustration " one of the best known figures was Norman Rockwell . As valid as anyone who ever took up a brush or a chisel , I think you might find this documentary of interest - https://youtu.be/MZQnCiUqQ3Y I hope you enjoy this

Okay, I found it here, where I could watch without having to sign up for a trial of anything, in case anyone else is in the same situation: https://watchdocumentaries.com/simon-schamas-power-of-art/?video_index=1

Fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing this, steven.

Sounds a bit Victorian this syndrome. Would the Louvre need fainting couches around the Mona Lisa if there was room to fall down? Maybe that's why they admit thousands of people :)

The Chagall ceiling in the Paris Opera is the one that gets me more than any other.

Steven, you have me coming out of the art closet. I love Rockwell's stuff and watched the documentary a number of years ago on the local PBS station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

It seems to go back before jet planes:

(snip)

Though there are numerous accounts of people fainting while taking in Florentine art, dating from the early 19th century, the syndrome was only named in 1979, when it was described by Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini, who observed over a hundred similar cases among tourists in Florence.

BB , that's a great catch , better than the Youtube posting , I hope more people watch it .

Gundersen , a quick view of a work by a current , very talented illustrator , Peter De Seve , who has done many covers for The New Yorker - https://mayhemandmuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/A-funny-illustrationg-by-Peter-de-Seve-of-what-the-Easter-Bunnys-baby-would-look-like-in-utero.jpg

The rabbit family is my kind of stuff, Steven. Let's hope the drawing never gets vandalised by some Pollock-like genius chucking a can of paint all over it.

I didn't realize that sort of thing had a name. That explains something that occurred on one of my visits to Paris in the past. While viewing the Mona Lisa, a woman next to me fainted and her husband lowered her to the floor.

I went over to see if I could help, and the husband explained what had happened. He said they were from France but he could speak German and a little English. He explained that his Wife was from Morocco and as they don't have much of that type of culture there, she had been really looking forward to seeing this great work of art her whole life. The experience was just too overwhelming for her so she suffered a "syncopal episode". After a few minutes they seemed OK so I continued my tour. I saw them later in another wing and they seemed to be doing well.

I love Norman Rockwell's work. I'm puzzled about what that has to do with Stendhal syndrome, though.

I was joking above about Stendhal Syndrome sounding like Victorian pseudoscience, but reading above posts and doing a little research shows that it actually was, a part of the swooning/fainting psych nonsense of its era. Without even looking I can guarantee you that it occured more in women than men, whose brains, according to the neuropsychology of the time, were SO much bigger in the emotional areas and lacking in the areas of reason. Up in Vienna, Gall and Spurzheim's brand new neuroimaging technology called phrenology simply proved as much. It's just science - so let's be careful to take special care of the fragile women who nonetheless dare to visit Florence!

I love Norman Rockwell's work. I'm puzzled about what that has to do with Stendhal syndrome, though.

Nothing , this was purely a response to a tangential point that Gundersen raised about what constitutes art . The point being that art of all modes and styles can be valid

I agree. One thing I love taking photos of when I travel is street art.

It's better than the Schengen Syndrome. Don't ask. No, you don't want it.

I'm not a big art guy but I do have Elvis on black velvet if that counts.

I, too, began weeping when I saw Van Gogh's Starry Night. I just stood there with tears streaming down my face.

How interesting to learn about Stendhal syndrome! I don't know if I had it but I remember the first time I saw Monet's Still Life with Flowers and Fruit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. It was like love at first sight. I saw it at of the corner of my eye and was instantly curious. When I got closer I broke out in chills and was immediately enraptured. I was with two of my girlfriends and they wanted to see the rest of the museum but I just wanted to stay with this painting. I don't know why this one in particular effected me so greatly but I treasure the memory of art making such a personal impact.

Well, as a classical musician I wept a little in St. Gallen Abbey Library, Switzerland, looking at a 9th century music book. 9th century, not 19th, mind you.

"Paris syndrome" is the reverse of "Stendhal syndrome". It's supposedly a type of depression that afflicts tourists when the destination that they've had on their "bucket list" for years turns out to be a normal city and not an idyllic fairyland. (Allegedly coined with regard to Japanese tourists who see Paris as the ultimate aesthetic destination and are shocked when they see dirt/panhandlers/casually-dressed-people.)

Also remember that during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries it was conventional for people of all genders to show their emotions openly in ways that nowadays would be seen as over the top in western society. It was the later Victorians who invented the whole "stiff upper lip" thing.

A lot of interesting responses here! All over the place. Posting this I thought that someone might come forward and say, "Yes! This happened to me!" Several of you reported weeping when coming face to face with particular works of art, but as Lola pointed out, that probably doesn't qualify as Stendhal syndrome. Although I didn't weep, when I saw Renoir's Bat du Moulin de la Galette at the Orsay in Paris many years ago, I was certainly enraptured and filled with a sense of joy more than anything else. And that was a great feeling which I haven't quite had again viewing wondrous works of art. Nice to hear that so many of you are also affected by and appreciate all kinds of art, and music too.
So maybe Stendhal syndrome was indeed a creation of the times, or maybe nobody is talking about it anymore. It would be interesting to ask the docents who work in Florence if they ever see it occur since supposedly that is where it all began.