Vicent Rodilla
Valencia, Spain

Morphine was discovered by the German pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner, who in 1804 isolated it from opium and named it “morphium” after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. He noted that high doses could lead to psychiatric effects and that the pain relief provided by this compound was ten times more potent than that of opium. Morphine quickly gained popularity as a pain reliever. A pharmacy which evolved to be the pharmaceutical company Merck began marketing morphine commercially in 1827, and its use expanded significantly after the invention of the hypodermic syringe in the mid-19th century. The drug was produced commercially and without many other options available for pain relief, physicians frequently recommended morphine. Early indications that morphine should be used cautiously were largely disregarded despite the rapid emergence of adverse effects. Many soldiers treated with morphine during the American Civil War developed lifelong addictions, leading to overdose and death.¹ Yet by the 1880s, society largely viewed morphine addiction as a moral rather than medical issue.²

Between 1875 and 1900, morphine use was so common among European intellectuals and high society that morphine clubs were created. In France, where its recreational use was widespread, women queued up for injections, and signed cases made by famous goldsmiths containing everything needed to administer the drug became a fashion trend.³ The ladies of high society hid their syringes in their muffs, and no one was surprised when guests would leave a room to inject themselves. In Paris, the most notorious morphine addicts injected themselves in public. The addiction was so accepted that some people had a gold needle permanently inserted under a bandage.⁴

Among famous addicts to morphine was painter and writer Santiago Rusiñol, one of the leaders of the Catalan modernism or Catalan Art Nouveau movement. He was the eldest son of a wealthy Catalan bourgeois family and was supposed to inherit and lead the family business. Instead, he decided to devote himself to painting and the arts. Between 1889 and 1895, Rusiñol spent long periods of time in Paris where he shared accommodations and experiences with other painters such as Zuloaga, Ramón Casas, and Anglada Camarasa and musicians like Eric Satie.

Rusiñol’s addiction to morphine began at the end of 1889, shortly after he had moved to Paris, when he fell and injured his lower back. He was discharged from the hospital a couple of days later, but he had sustained an undiagnosed injury to one of his kidneys. From then on, he suffered periodic pain that was only relieved with morphine.

In 1894, Rusiñol painted two canvasses titled Before the Morphine and The Morphine’s Girl. In the first canvas (Figure 1), a young woman is depicted on a bed holding a small, shiny object, likely used in preparing the substance. In the second painting (Figure 2), she has fully surrendered to the opiate. She appears languid, with the strap of her nightgown slipping off her shoulder. Her right hand is clenched from the effects of morphine, and her face reflects a state of ecstasy, expressing both relief and pleasure. The model for both paintings seems to be Stéfanie Nantas, whom Rusiñol painted on several occasions during his third and last trip to Paris, always anonymously, except in a piece the author titled Rêverie (La Senyoreta Stephanie Nantas), which the artist kept for his private collection. After his return to Spain, Rusiñol was already ensnared by morphine, and he made no effort to conceal it. At the beginning of 1896, his pain increased and he began injecting himself more frequently. The effects of morphine were observed in the painter’s activity and behavior, and his mood oscillated between euphoria and depression.

That summer, Rusiñol spent a few days in Montserrat where doctors attributed the pains to arthritis and recommended the thermal waters in La Garriga, a small town near Barcelona, which had become a popular summer resort. While there, he wrote a letter to his friend, the art critic Raimon Casellas, confessing that it had become impossible for him to do without morphine because the pain had become unbearable.⁵ Towards the end of 1896, what had started as a remedy became an addiction that was more dangerous than the pain it was intended to mitigate. Over the next two years, his morphine addiction worsened as his renal necrosis accelerated. The devastating consequences of morphine were taking their toll on the artist, who finally, on the advice of his doctor and with his wife’s support, decided to go to the sanatorium of Dr. Paul Sollier in Boulogne-sur-Seine, near Paris, to undergo treatment. However, despite the strict treatment regimen, Rusiñol could not overcome his addiction, even when Dr. Pagés decided to remove his necrotic kidney, which should have put an end to the source of his pain.⁶

Rusiñol received plenty of national and international awards, including Honorable Mentions at the Universal Exhibition of Paris (1889) and the International Exhibition of Berlin (1891), and medals at the International Exhibition of Chicago (1893) and theExposición Internacional de Barcelona (1929) to name a few. He became a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris (1892) and Sociétaire (1908) and was bestowed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur of France in 1917.⁷

Rusiñol was also a recognized writer, mostly in the Catalan language. Morphine was a frequent topic in his written work. In the ironic play El Malalt Crònic (The Chronic Patient) published in 1898, a patient is abandoned in a thermal water treatment facility, which paradoxically does not cure his illness. In a 1901 short story “La Casa del Silence” (“The House of Silence”), although a literary work, Rusiñol seems to recount his stay in Boulogne-sur-Seine to treat his morphine addiction. In 1905, he published another short story titled “El Morfiníac” (“The Morphine Addict”), in which the main character is a writer looking to morphine for the inspiration he lacks.

In closing, in another painting titled The Last Prescription (1892) (Figure 3), a physician prescribes a treatment to alleviate the pain of a terminal patient lying in a bed at the back of the room. A feminine figure beside the bed, with her hands above her head, adds to the drama and desperation of the situation. For Rusiñol, an addiction to a medication once used to treat his own pain would surface in painted and written works throughout his career.

References

1. Lewy J. The Army Disease: Drug Addiction and the Civil War. War Hist. 2014;21(1). https://www.jstor.org/stable/26098368. Accessed June 22, 2024
2. Berridge V. Morality and medical science: Concepts of narcotic addiction in Britain, 1820–1926. Ann Sci. 1979;36(1):67-85. doi:10.1080/00033797900200131
3. Escohotado Antonio. Historia general de las drogas: Incluye el apéndice fenomenología de las drogas. Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1998. https://search.worldcat.org/title/757414527. Accessed May 10, 2024 via WorldCat.
4. Varenne Gaston. El abuso de las drogas. Guadarrama, 1973. https://books.google.com/books/about/El_abuso_de_las_drogas.html?hl=es&id=t5uLAAAACAAJ. Accessed May 10, 2024 via Google Books.
5. Castellanos J. Correspondència Rusiñol Casellas. Dipósit Digital de documents de la Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/artpub/1981/93180/marges_a1981m1n21p85.pdf
6. Laplana J de C. Santiago Rusiñol: el pintor, l’home. Abadia de Montserrat, 1995:589. https://books.google.com/books/about/Santiago_Rusi%C3%B1ol.html?hl=es&id=9khyhYEzhPQC. Accessed via Google Books May 13, 2024.
7. Ramón Navarro. Spanish Modern Landsapes 1880-1950. (Colnaghi, Sala Parés, Artur Ramon Art, eds.). Artur Ramon Art / Colnaghi ; 2021.