Stendhal Syndrome

Stendhal syndrome is a psychosomatic disorder characterized by rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations. People suffering from this disease may react to losing consciousness to magnificent works of art, extraordinarily beautiful events, and situations.

In one of the last cases, a visitor at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence experienced a heart attack while viewing “The Birth of Venus.”. Fortunately, he regained his health later in the hospital. The disease is believed to be peculiar to Florence, Rome, Paris and such artistic cities. The reason for this is the concentration of great art in these cities. However, there is no such problem for city dwellers, who are constantly exposed to artworks in their daily life. The three main symptoms defined for Stendhal Syndrome are as follows;

• Increased anxiety and guilt, with altered voice and color perception.
• Feeling of inadequacy or conversely omnipotence
• Physiological symptoms such as chest pain, panic attacks

Although considered strange, the idea that art can be so intense that it can cause physical illness is not novel. From the 19th century, many people were dizzy and even fainted because of Florentine art. However, the existence of Stendhal syndrome was proven by the Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini, who observed and described more than 100 visitors with this syndrome in Florence in 1989.

Graziella Magherini developed a psychoanalytic approach to examine the complex relationship of psychological responses, whose artistic taste is evoked in an observer by works of art. The equation for this approximation is defined by three variables and one constant. The first variable is the “primary aesthetic experience” that is established at the beginning of life and progresses essentially as a mother-child aesthetic experience. The second variable is “strangeness”, which recalls experiences worth remembering after observing a particular work of art. The third variable is the “selected fact”, which the perception of the art object may greatly affect the reaction aroused in the observer. The constant in this equation is the content that shapes the artistic value of the art object. This equation represents the different responses of different individuals to the same work of art, or the same person’s reaction to the same work of art at different times in their life.

 

This disease is named after the French novelist and critic Marie Henry Beyle Stendhal. Stendhal wrote in his book Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio that when he saw the frescoes in the Church of Santa Croce during his visit to Florence in 1817, he felt an intensity of emotion that was difficult to explain.

“I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty … I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations … Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call ‘nerves’. Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.”

“My soul, affected by the very notion of being in Florence, and by the proximity of those great men whose tombs I had just beheld, was already in a state of trance. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty, […] I had attained to that supreme degree of sensibility where the divine intimations of art merge with the impassioned sensuality of emotion.”

– Stendhal

It does not currently appear in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). This may possibly be due to the failure of such clinically reported cases to meet the parameters of dysfunction required to qualify as a mental health disorder according to the DSM’s revised articles. However, psychiatrists have documented the syndrome in medical journals. They also recommend that tourists get enough rest among images of breathe taking, powerful masterpieces while visiting art museums. There is no specific treatment for this condition. Generally, when the trip or organization is completed, people return to their normal health conditions.

 

Famous people are also among those who suffer from this condition. For example, Dario Argento, the famous Italian horror movie director, released “La Sindrome di Stendhal” in 1996. The main character is a policewoman looking for a serial killer. However, she is kidnapped as well by a serial killer while experiencing the syndrome at the Uffizi Gallery. The movie was inspired by this condition experienced by the director himself during a visit to the Parthenon, in Athens.

It is possible to encounter another example of this in literature. Novelist E.M. In Piazza Della Signoria, Italy, “The Room with a View” written by Forster in 1908, there is a scene where Lucy, the main character, witnesses the discussion of two Italian men. At that moment, the emotions cause the woman to faint. The main character also suffers from this syndrome.

 

 

Sources;

Jones, J. (2018, December 18). Stendhal syndrome: can art really be so beautiful it makes you ill? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2018/dec/18/stendhal-syndrome-botticelli-the-birth-of-venus

E. (2020, April 6). The Stendhal Syndrome: Origin, Scientific Research, Film & Literature. Europass. https://www.europassitalian.com/blog/stendhal-syndrome/

Stendhal Syndrome: Overdosing On Beautiful Art. (2015, December 2). Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71801/stendhal-syndrome-overdosing-beautiful-art

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, March 27). Stendhal syndrome. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

Botticelli, S. (n.d.). The birth of Venus – Sandro Botticelli. Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-birth-of-venus-sandro-botticelli/MQEeq50LABEBVg 

The Stendhal Syndrome (1996). (1996, January 26). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117658/ 

Stock Photo. (n.d.). 123RF. https://www.123rf.com/photo_63762609_interior-of-basilica-of-the-holy-cross-basilica-di-santa-croce-franciscan-church-in-florence-italy-i.html

Miller, G. (2019, November 26). September Art Museum Challenge. CLOSLER. https://closler.org/lifelong-learning-in-clinical-excellence/september-art-museum-challenge

Datta S. Stendhal Syndrome: A psychological response among tourists. Psychol Cogn Sci Open J. 2017; 3(2):
66-73. doi: 10.17140/PCSOJ-3-125