"Reds appeared dull, pinks washed-out, and there were many colors I could simply no longer recognize." The midday sun became too bright for him to bear, and in 1923 he finally consented to surgery after buckling under the pressure. "Back then, a surgery like this was a major risk. Hygiene standards were poor, but Monet was about to lose his eyesight," says Professor Barbara Pierscionek, Vision Scientist at England's Staffordshire University. The surgery involved removing the eye's natural lens. And artificial lens replacements were not yet available.
"While not ideal, glasses were his only chance of being able to see at all, and of painting ever again," says Barbara Pierscionek. Monet tried out different pairs of glasses. One of these is said to have had a bluing effect on the lenses. The glasses allowed Monet to perceive color in a greater intensity. "He found that the ZEISS lenses helped him see the best," says Dr. Ralf Dahm, Director of Scientific Management at the Institute of Molecular Biology in Mainz. Dahm is a biologist who knows the ins and outs of transparent tissue, but he is also an art enthusiast who delves into how eye diseases have negatively impacted different artists.