By Alan Mozes
NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters Health) - World-renowned painters such as
Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Raoul Dufy produced major works of art while suffering
from the painful and crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a
researcher pointed out in a talk sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation.
"Unless you look at Renoir's painting with X-rays and 3-dimensional cuts,
it's very hard to tell that there's any difference between the work he completed
before RA and the work he did after he got the disease. It really illustrates
the point that patients with RA can do many things but they just need the time
to do it," said Dr. James S. Louie, a professor of medicine and the chief of
rheumatology at Harbor-University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical
Center in Torrance. He presented his remarks Friday at the Indiana Historical
Society in Indianapolis.
For over 20 years, Louis has been lecturing across the US about the
historical experiences of major artists--such as Peter Paul Rubens, Paul Klee,
Grandma Moses and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec--who continued to live and work
while suffering from RA or other diseases that affect bones and joints.
RA is a chronic autoimmune disorder that occurs when the immune system
attacks tissues lining the joints, resulting in pain, inflammation, deformity
and, sometimes permanent, disability. The disease is estimated to affect over 2
million Americans, 70% of whom are middle-aged women.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Louie noted that drugs introduced in
recent years can help control the disease and prevent the joint deformity that
occurs in later stages. RA patients such as Renoir typically had to endure
excruciating pain--making his achievements all the more exemplary and
remarkable, he said.
"Except to the refined eye, you really can't tell any differences in
Renoir's brushstroke and his work, and so the inspirational thing is that he did
all this despite the pain and the deformity--and that's really an incredible
story to portray," he said.
Louie noted that in addition to the emotional support such stories can give
RA patients, there are now new drug options that far surpass the treatment
choices Renoir faced.
