Inflammatory Arthritis of the Hands as Expressed by the Impressionists in the Orsay Museum

An extensive study looking for signs of inflammatory arthritis in the paintings of the impressionists was performed at the Orsay Museum in Paris, France. Of the 435 paintings reviewed, 3 works by different painters were found to show signs of inflammatory arthritis of the hands. We suspect that the importance of the arthritis in the models' lives led the painters to emphasize this condition in their paintings.