Abstract
Podoll and Robinson (page 228) report on six paintings by migraine patients depicting illusory splitting as a striking feature of visual migraine auras. They also review a number of cases from the literature describing the same fascinating phenomenon. In illusory splitting, objects or persons appear to be split into two or more parts alone one or more, usually vertical, fractured line. The split is usually associated with a vertical shift along the fracture line.
Drawing of auras by migraine patients nearly always results in interesting information, but sometimes even in real artwork, depending on the drawing or painting skills of the artist/patient. For example, Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1987), an influential 20th century Italian artist suffering from migraine, was probably inspired by his visual auras in some of his paintings, which contained scotoma-like patterns and even ‘migrainous visual hallucinations’ (1). Illusory vertical splitting, however, cannot be found in his work, as far as we know.
Many paintings of female faces by the famous painter Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881–1973) show a strikingly similar form of vertical splitting and shift of parts of the faces. Usually the face is painted two-dimensionally flat with a vertical split and shift of the eyes and other parts of the face, and in addition distortion of usually the nose. Well-known examples include the many ‘La femme qui pleure’ paintings (from 1937), several portraits of Marie-Therese Walter (also 1937), and ‘Portrait de femme au chapeau’ (1938). These paintings suggest that Picasso might have been suffering from bizarre visual migraine auras associated with illusory splitting, and that this has inspired his characteristic way of painting women's faces. There is, however, no official account of Picasso suffering from migraine, but this could easily have been overlooked if he only suffered from migraine aura without headache.
Over the years we have collected many examples of drawings, paintings, and other art work from migraine patients depicting their own bizarre visual migraine auras. Remarkably often illusory vertical splitting is a striking feature of these auras. At several surveys among in total approximately 3000 physicians, scientists, patients, authorities, and journalists attending scientific headache meetings, many of the participants repeatedly had great difficulties in distinguishing between several of Picasso's paintings (mainly those with illusory vertical splitting) and paintings of migraine patients, who had depicted their own visual auras.
In conclusion, we agree with Podoll and Robinson (page 228) that ‘the small number of communications about illusory splitting does not reflect its true prevalence in migraine’. Besides, we think that illusory splitting as a part of bizarre visual migraine auras might have inspired Picasso to paint female faces with the characteristic vertical splitting and shift of the eyes