Wheelchairs in Art
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
It was a difficult topic to research. There are not of lot of paintings featuring wheelchairs in western art. There are a couple of vases from Greek Times. They made a resurgence during the Renaissance.
The wheelchair went through a lot of revisions, until it acquired its modern form. The folks depicted in these paintings are a King, a Cardinal and a few painters. Sometimes folks were pulled from the back and then from the front.
It was close to the 19th century, when the wheelchair that doesn’t require a person to push it was invented. It was commonly used by beggars who had no family help. Henri Matisse didn’t paint folks in wheelchairs, but he was wheelchair bound in the later part of his life.
The same thing happened to Frida Kahlo and Renoir. He made his collage works because he could rarely summon the energy to make complicated works. In the modern times, paintings featuring folks in wheelchairs became more common. There is a video of this topic in my Artsy Sister Youtube channel. Do not forget to give a like and subscribe.
