Synesthesia  

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Some of the most frequently mentioned artists in connection with synesthesia probably were not synesthetes. Despite compositions such as [[Prometheus: Poem of Fire|''Prometheus: The Poem of Fire'']] and ''[[Mysterium (Scriabin)|Mysterium]]'', the Russian composer [[Alexander Scriabin]] was most likely not a synesthete. He was particularly interested in the psychological effects on the audience when they experienced sound and color simultaneously. His theory was that when the correct color was perceived with the correct sound, ‘a powerful psychological resonator for the listener’ would be created. On the score of ''Prometheus'' Scriabin wrote next to the instruments separate parts for the color organ (Galeyev 2001, Gleich 1963). Some of the most frequently mentioned artists in connection with synesthesia probably were not synesthetes. Despite compositions such as [[Prometheus: Poem of Fire|''Prometheus: The Poem of Fire'']] and ''[[Mysterium (Scriabin)|Mysterium]]'', the Russian composer [[Alexander Scriabin]] was most likely not a synesthete. He was particularly interested in the psychological effects on the audience when they experienced sound and color simultaneously. His theory was that when the correct color was perceived with the correct sound, ‘a powerful psychological resonator for the listener’ would be created. On the score of ''Prometheus'' Scriabin wrote next to the instruments separate parts for the color organ (Galeyev 2001, Gleich 1963).
-The French [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poets [[Arthur Rimbaud]] and [[Charles Baudelaire]] wrote poems which focused on synesthetic experience, but were evidently not synesthetes themselves. Baudelaire's ''{{lang|fr|Correspondances}}'' (1857) ([http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/baudelaire.html full text available here]) introduced the Romantic notion that the senses can and should intermingle. Kevin Dann {{Harv|Dann|1998}} argues that Baudelaire probably learned of synesthesia from reading medical textbooks that were available in his home. Rimbaud, following Baudelaire, wrote ''Voyelles'' (1871) ([http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/rimbaud.html full text available here]) which was perhaps more important than ''{{lang|fr|Correspondances}}'' in popularizing synesthesia, although he later admitted ""J'inventais la couleur des voyelles!" [I invented the colors of the vowels!].+The French [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poets [[Arthur Rimbaud]] and [[Charles Baudelaire]] wrote poems which focused on synesthetic experience, but were evidently not synesthetes themselves. Baudelaire's ''[[Correspondances]]'' (1857) [http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/baudelaire.html]) introduced the Romantic notion that the senses can and should intermingle. Kevin Dann argues that Baudelaire probably learned of synesthesia from reading medical textbooks that were available in his home. Rimbaud, following Baudelaire, wrote ''[[Voyelles]]'' (1871) ([http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/rimbaud.html ]) which was perhaps more important than ''[[Correspondances]]'' in popularizing synesthesia, although he later admitted ""J'inventais la couleur des voyelles!" [I invented the colors of the vowels!].
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-[http://home.comcast.net/~sean.day/Synesthesia.htm Sean A. Day], a synesthete, and the President of the [[American Synesthesia Association]], maintains a list of people with synesthesia, "pseudosynesthetes," and individuals who are most likely not synesthetic, but who used synesthesia in their art or music.+
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Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek (syn), meaning "with," and (aisthēsis), meaning "sensation"'—is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored, while in ordinal linguistic personification, numbers, days of the week and months of the year evoke personalities. In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may have a three-dimensional view of a year as a map (clockwise or counterclockwise).

People with synesthesia

There is a great deal of debate about whether or not synesthesia can be identified through historical sources. A small number of famous people have been labeled as synesthetes on the basis of at least two historical sources. This includes individuals of many different talents, such as artists, novelists, composers, musicians, and scientists.

Artists with synesthesia include the painter David Hockney, who perceives music synesthetically as colors, and who used these synesthetic colors when painting stage sets, but not in creating his other artworks. Also, Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky had the same type of synesthesia (sound and color). Perhaps the most famous synesthete author was Vladimir Nabokov, who had grapheme → color synesthesia, one of the most common types, which he described at length in his autobiography, Speak Memory, and which he sometimes portrays in giving his characters synesthesia. Composers include Duke Ellington (timbre → color), Franz Liszt (music → color), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Olivier Messiaen, who had a complex form of synesthesia in which chord structures produced synesthetic colors. Notable synesthete scientists include Richard Feynman. Feynman describes in his autobiography, What Do You Care What Other People Think?, that he had the grapheme → color type. Other notable synesthetes include musician John Mayer; actress Stephanie Carswell; and electronic musician Aphex Twin, who borrows inspiration from lucid dreams as well as synesthesia (music → color). The classical pianist Hélène Grimaud has the condition also.

Some of the most frequently mentioned artists in connection with synesthesia probably were not synesthetes. Despite compositions such as Prometheus: The Poem of Fire and Mysterium, the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin was most likely not a synesthete. He was particularly interested in the psychological effects on the audience when they experienced sound and color simultaneously. His theory was that when the correct color was perceived with the correct sound, ‘a powerful psychological resonator for the listener’ would be created. On the score of Prometheus Scriabin wrote next to the instruments separate parts for the color organ (Galeyev 2001, Gleich 1963).

The French Romantic poets Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire wrote poems which focused on synesthetic experience, but were evidently not synesthetes themselves. Baudelaire's Correspondances (1857) [1]) introduced the Romantic notion that the senses can and should intermingle. Kevin Dann argues that Baudelaire probably learned of synesthesia from reading medical textbooks that were available in his home. Rimbaud, following Baudelaire, wrote Voyelles (1871) ([2]) which was perhaps more important than Correspondances in popularizing synesthesia, although he later admitted ""J'inventais la couleur des voyelles!" [I invented the colors of the vowels!].



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Synesthesia" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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