5 famous artists who are thought to be colour blind

In the field of paintings and the arts, colours, textures and tones play a very important role. A lilac splash instead of a light purple and the painting might lose its value. This makes one wonder, how did artists who were probably colourblind do it? How were they able to imagine, paint and put forward such masterpieces that sell for billions of dollars and are admired by people even today? Despite struggling to discern certain hues, these artists defied their limitations and created famous artworks or did the inability to differentiate between certain hues earn them the title.
In the spirit of the question above, here we list 5 famous artists who are thought to actually be colour blind!

(Image: Wikipedia & Canva)

The famous French painter, Claude Monet is one of the most well-known artists around the world. And for quite some time now, historians, art experts and professionals suggest that he might also have been colour blind. It is said that Claude Monet developed cataract in the late months of 1912 but refused any sort of surgery. After a while, his eye condition worsened and he developed some sort of colour blindness before he became permanently blind in one of his eyes. Yet, today he is a renowned artist with the feather of paintings like ‘Impression,Sunrise’ and ‘Poppies’ amongst others, to his hat.

(Image: Wikipedia)

Joseph Mallord William Turner, an English Romantic painter, is another artist who is speculated to have experienced colour blindness later in his life. Experts, when they look at his paintings, see some abnormal colour patterns. In some of his paintings, the red is way too dark and the blue is way more pronounced than how it should be. Even in his self portrait, it can be seen that Turner was not very sure about the colours or rather complexions to be put on his hair and face. Then subsequently, in ‘Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps’, the blue colour of the water and waves is well pronounced in some spots and not that deep in the others.

(Image: Wikipedia)

There have been several discussions, debates and studies suggesting that van Gogh might have had a type of colour vision deficiency which led to some of his color choices and the intensity with which he used certain hues. While some people are of the opinion that the deep blues in his paintings hint to some form of blindness, others say that you can get a better view of his paintings using certain glasses meant for people with colour blindness. But, there are many others who completely shun this speculation and rather are of the belief that van Gogh was just someone who wanted to express his art in a bold way and hence the deep colour effects.

(Image: Canva)

Another artist who people and studies are sure was colour blind is Clifton Pugh. In an article titled, ‘Colour blindness does not preclude fame as an artist: celebrated Australian artist Clifton Pugh was a protanope’ published in the National Institutes of Health (.gov), it is mentioned that “it is almost certain that Clifton Pugh was a protanope. Pugh used all colours in his paintings but preferred to structure them on brown, black and blue or, for high key paintings, on cream or flesh colours. He used greens and purples sparingly.” Even after the colour deficiency, Pugh is the proud creator of masterpieces such as ‘Swamp Form’ and ‘Cicadas’ among others.

(Image: Jane Morrison/Wikipedia)

A poet, philosopher, musician and an artist, Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian like no other. A Nobel laureate for literature in 1913, his one of the most famous pieces of work is ‘Gitanjali’. Tagore's work bridged the gap between Indian and Western cultures while advocating for universal humanism. And, among all the praises and phrases about his writings, not many people know that Tagore was also a painter. And probably a colour blind one. According to a paper on MyGov.in, “Rabindranath Tagore also had excellent skills in drawing and painting. Probably, Rabindranath Tagore was red-green color blind. Due to this, his artworks contain strange color themes.”
Many of his paintings have been displayed at the National Gallery of Modern Arts in New Delhi.

(Image: Canva)