World

Great art might spur a destructive urge

ROME - If you thought art galleries were quiet havens of contemplation, think again. Looking at great works of art can inspire a strong, sometimes irresistible urge to destroy, Italian researchers have found. Dubbed the "David" syndrome, after the statue of the young Hebrew king by Michelangelo, the condition can provoke an overwhelming desire to damage the art being viewed, the psychoanalyst who identified the malady told Reuters. "It's a range of strong emotions that goes from enchantment, through vexation, aggression, a vandalistic impulse, right through to panic attacks," said Graziella Magherini, who is leading a group of doctors, psychiatrists and art historians looking into the syndrome. The group has spent months at Florence's Accademia Gallery studying how visitors react to seeing "David," Michelangelo's towering marble nude, one of Italy's best-loved art treasures. Most of those who feel the destructive urge - which may affect 20 percent of people - manage to restrain themselves, Magherini said. But some can lash out. In 1991, a vandal smashed "David's" foot with a hammer before being restrained. "Great works of art, at a deep level, bring about a feeling of destruction, an urge to destroy that also many artists have. Michelangelo himself destroyed some of his own works or parts of them." But the will to destroy is not caused only by a subconscious link between creating and destroying. The "David" syndrome is also caused by people's deepest fears and desires, by sex and death. Magherini has interviewed gallery visitors who are fixated with and disturbed by the physical attributes of "David," considered by art critics to be a vision of male perfection. "There's a great force, an impulse of an erotic and sexual nature, not just in women, but even more so in men."