~The Stendhal's Syndrome~


I know it kinda` sounds offtopic but i assure u this article has a bound with our love for dbsk.I recently discovered this syndrome from a friend of mine and i made the connection with our passion for dbsk.let me know if u find out u have it too hehe^_^ jk.jk.I made a mix of more articles

The "Stendhal's Syndrome", also known as "Florence's syndrome", is a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art. Is a drastic mental (and then physical) reaction to works of art that the afflicted person finds orphically profound in beauty and importance, perhaps subconsciously. Or more simply put; it's somebody spazzing out at The Guggenheim.But also the contemplation of the works of art of nature can cause intense emotions: I'm referring to a beautiful sunset, the iridescent colored clouds, the autumnal woods, the wind in the branches or a child's face!
In 1817, a young Frenchman named Marie-Henri Beyle — better known to us as the French novelist Stendhal — visited Florence and soon found himself overwhelmed by the city's intensely rich legacy of art and history. When he visited Santa Croce (the cathedral where the likes of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Galileo are buried) and saw Giotto's famous ceiling frescoes for the first time, he was overcome with emotion:"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.''
Don't laugh... the condition has been documented by Florenceís Santa Maria Nuova hospital's psychiatric team since 1982, and they can account for 107 known cases since that date. While the cases and their physical effects by all accounts do appear to be real - the affliction can safely be said to lie somewhere between fact and fiction... or perhaps fact and bragging. I use the word "bragging" because, according to Graziella Magherini, Italian psychiatrist and author of the novel "The Stendhal Syndrome", Europeans visiting the city are the only ones ever afflicted by the condition. Inexplicably, American and Japanese tourists to the location seem to be immune to it. Perhaps for Italians visiting or living in their homeland, its no more than just a strangely veiled pride in their fantastic cultural history. I mean what's better praise about one's cultural heritage than saying "Watch out - our art is so important, it could be DANGEROUS!"

The earliest citation for this phrase was in the fall of1986 when James O'Reilly's article titled "Beautiful and unspoiled Indonesia can turn into a trial for travelers" for the Chicago Tribune :

Mary came to Florence from New York to fulfill a dream. She left here after four days, all of them spent in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.
The city drove Mary mad.
But the 34-year-old teacher, on her first tour of Europe, was not an isolated case.
Crowded Florence, cradle of the Renaissance, a city where palaces and monuments submerge the visitor, where each stone has a story, each corner a legend, is literally driving some tourists out of their mind .[i must add that i visited florence and all its museums uffizi too and i haven't experienced that syndrom hehe]
The most frequent masterpieces that people go to pieces over are:
  • Santa Croce's Cappella Niccolini, with Giotto's Frescos
  • The Accademia, with Michelangelo's Davide
  • The room in the Uffizi with Botticelli's Primavera
  • San Lorenzo's Sagrestia Nuova, with Michelangelo's sculptures of the Four Seasons
  • The Quartiere Planetario hall of the Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti
  • Luca Giordano's hall in Palazzo Medici Ricciardi
  • The hall in the Uffizi with Piero Della Francesca's Duke and Duchess of Urbino
Now that i think about it,i do remember seeing similar effects upon visitors to art exhibitions that I've attended(Uffizi museum in Firenze). People stand in front of paintings gaping, weeping, or laughing. Which makes me think of the dizziness all dbsk fans experience while concerts.remember the images of thousands of fans crying and screaming and fainting when the boys performed?Do you remember the desperate look on a fans face when she sees her favourite member walking by at the airport or in the backstage of a concert,enjoying those moments as if it's the first and maybe the last time she sees him?Does it seem familiar with this kind of syndrom?I think all dbsk fans kinda have this syndrom.(it's only my opinion)
There's also a film about this syndrome that i found pretty interesting The Stendhal's Syndrom - Dario Argento.Here's a scene i liked from this film: stendhal syndrom

And now going back to our topic, do u think u could have Stendhal Syndrome watching this "masterpiece"? xD i know i could ^_^ i sure could stare at them for a long long time.I see infinity awesomeness,perfection in it's pure form. Now i'm gonna' let u stare at it for as long as u want.Take ur time ,ENJOY!



My opinion is that every human that poseses a pair of eyes can suffer of that syndrome.


credits:as tagged