Édouard Manet und die Arteriitis syphilitica

Syphilitic arteritis was widespread in the nineteenth century. Today it is no longer observed. As with rheumatic arteritis, various forms and vascular localizations have been distinguished. Disease of the middle peripheral arteries led to intermittent claudication, and a severe course resulted in peripheral gangrene.

Manet contracted syphilis in his younger years as a sailor in Rio de Janeiro. Later he had the typical pain of tabes dorsalis and in the last years of his life also complained of difficulty walking up hill. Then in his 50th year, he contracted gangrene in his left foot. His leg had to be amputated, and a few days after the operation, the artist died.

Édouard Manet was among the famous representatives of the Impressionist art movement in Paris. His pictures were met with incomprehension in his time. However, their beauty and expression were not affected by his serious illnesses