What Is Synaesthesia?

Forms Of Synaesthesia

History Of Research

Synaesthesia And The Arts

Further Reading

The term “synaesthesia” in the arts, has historically referred to a wide variety of artistic experiments, in order to synthesize different art disciplines, such as in music and painting; as can be observed in the genres of visual music, abstract film, computer animation, symbolist poetry, and multimedia and intermedial art. The use of the term in the arts should, however, be differentiated from "genuine" synaesthesia, in scientific research. Scientific methods to assess synaesthesia have only been developed in the last two decades. In order to assess synaesthesia in artists before that time, one has to interpret autobiographical and biographical sources. In general, it has shown to be extremely difficult to categorize artists as synaesthetes, without scientific criteria, or assessment.

Synaesthetic art may refer to either art created by synaesthetes, or art created to convey what it is like to experience synaesthesia. It is an attempt to understand the relationship between the experiences of congenital synaesthetes, the experiences of non-synaesthetes, and an appreciation of such art by both synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes alike. These distinctions are not mutually exclusive, as, for example, art by a synaesthete might also evoke synaesthesia-like experiences in the viewer. However, it should not be assumed that all "synaesthetic art” accurately reflects the synaesthetic experience. This latter category is also sometimes referred to as “artificial synaesthesia”.

Historically, synaesthetic art consisted of a number of contrivances, such as colour elements, musical painting, and more recently, visual music, all of which have been intended to evoke cross-sensory fusions in the audience, although the inventors of such artifices were not necessarily synaesthetes themselves, and may not even have been aware of synaesthesia as such. Numerous modern synaesthete artists, including Carol Steen, Marcia Smilack, amongst others, have described in detail, the manner in which they use their experiences of synaesthesia in the creation of their artworks, demonstrating the complex interplay between their personal experiences, and their artistic creations.

In addition to its role in music and art, synaesthesia has often been used in literature, as a plot device, or as a way of developing a particular character's personality and internal states. A story line is often identified, or interpreted, as appearing dark, or thin, depending on the nature of the writing. Similarly, the characters within a plot may be perceived as being colourful, or dry, depending on how the writer wishes the characters to be represented.

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

Musicians and composers include: Duke Ellington, who had timbre colour synaesthesia; Franz Liszt, who had music colour synaesthesia; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Olivier Messiaen, (also greatly inspired by the colour and shape of bird song), both of whom had a complex form of synaesthesia, in which chord structures produced synaesthetic colours. Currently, one of the most popular synaesthetes is perhaps hip-hop producer and musician, Pharrell Williams, who has music colour synaesthesia.

Some of the most frequently mentioned musicians and artists in connection with synaesthesia, were perhaps not synaesthetes themselves, despite compositions such as Prometheus: “The Poem of Fire”, and “Mysterium”. For example, the Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin, was most likely not to have been a synaesthete, but was rather more interested in the psychological effects on the audience when they experienced sound and colour simultaneously. His theory was, when the correct colour was perceived with the correct sound, “a powerful psychological resonator for the listener” would be created.

Artists with synaesthesia include: the painter David Hockney, who perceives music synaesthetically as colours, and who used these synaesthetic colours when painting stage sets, but not in creating his other artworks; Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, had the same type of sound/colour synaesthesia. The modern art work of the late 20th century, focuses heavily on visual interpretation, tactile and spatial awareness. Controversial to many, abstract art is a prime example of sensory interpretation, personal to each individual, as is the case with synaesthesia.

Perhaps one of the most famous synaesthete authors was Vladimir Nabokov, who had grapheme colour synaesthesia, one of the most common forms, which he described at length in his autobiography, “Speak Memory”, and which he sometimes portrays in giving his characters synaesthesia. The French Romantic poets, Arthur Rimbaud, and Charles Baudelaire, wrote poems which focused on synaesthetic experiences, but who were not evidently synaesthetes themselves. Baudelaire's “Correspondences”, 1857, introduced the Romantic notion that the senses can and should intermingle. Kevin Dann argues, Baudelaire probably learned of synaesthesia from reading medical textbooks which were available to him in his home. Rimbaud, following Baudelaire, wrote “Voyelles”, which was perhaps more important than correspondences in popularizing synaesthesia, although he later admitted, "J'inventais la couleur des voyelles!", (I invented the colours of the vowels!).

Notable synaesthete scientists include: Nikola Tesla, and Richard Feynman. Feynman describes in his autobiography, “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”, that he had the grapheme colour type of synaesthesia. Sean A. Day, himself a synaesthete, and the President of the American Synesthesia Association, maintains a list of famous synaesthetes, "Pseudosynaesthetes,", and individuals who are most likely not to be synaesthetes, but who frequently used synaesthesia in their art work, or music.

Music, art, and literature, have always served as a way of channeling one’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences, in order to fulfill emotional needs, and achieve personal reflection. In today’s society, with the development of impressionism, and the increasing focus on creativity and expression, the qualities unique to these art forms can only advance further. Perhaps synaesthesia will occur in individuals more commonly, as a result of these heightened perceptual modes, and exposure to multiple sensory experiences.