Seeing the real Van Gogh - a revelation...

This is an intriguing blog post about colour vision deficiency. Kazunori Asada writes about how he experienced a gallery of art works painted to represent how thing look to a person with colour vision deficiency. He then explains how how developed software to replicate this effect. He looked at various Van Gogh works and what he saw was a revelation.

This is Starry Nights as I see it. Vivid to be sure, but a bit as if someone has overcranked the gamma. Some of the colours are interesting but let's be frank - a bit weird.

This is how it looks to a person with colour vision deficiency.

Now that's a bit better. Not really muted, in fact still quite bright. But some of the unusual greens in the sky replaced by more natural blends.

The effect is more clear in The Wheat Field. The original is quite unusually red.

The adjusted version, more normal.

There are more examples on the blog, together with more explanation. But it seems it may be right, as some people have apparently surmised, that Van Gogh suffered this affliction himself!