Sleep and Health Journal

By Deena Sherman

Amedeo Modigliani was a handsome and cultured Italian-Jewish artist who went to Paris in 1906 where he went into a downward spiral, ultimately becoming a slovenly drunk who died fourteen years later at the age of 35. But in those tumultuous years he produced a distinct style of painting that has led to him being considered by many as the greatest Italian artist of the twentieth century.

By Alexander Golbin, MD

Illness is a bad thing by definition. Illness, disorder, disease – all these words reflect physical disability, crash of our dreams and downhill of the quality of our life.

By

Louis Keith, MD, PhD, ScD (Hon)

Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics & GynecologyFormer Head, Section of Undergraduate Education and Medical Student Affairs Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

By Deena Sherman

Andy Warhol was fascinated by sleep. Although it was his art that brought him fame, Warhol also made many movies – and his first one was called "Sleep." Warhol's films were not of the traditionally commercial kind, and Sleep featured about five hours of his boyfriend, John Giorno, sleeping. This film may seem more like something shot in a modern day sleep lab rather than one that anyone other than a scientist would want to watch.

By Deena Sherman



Spain’s Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) has been credited with painting the greatest nude ever painted. This painting, the Toilet of Venus shows the seductive, pearly white back of Venus, the Goddess of Love, reclining on her elbow as she gazes into a mirror held up by Cupid. What is astonishing is that Velázquez painted only a handful of nudes, and even more astonishing, this is the only one to have survived.

By Deena Sherman

Caption: “Self Portrait. Age 23. 1798”
An artist’s personality is rarely revealed by the work he produces. Some artists are gregarious, many are womanizers, some, like Henry Moore, are quite balanced and ordinary. The personality of British artist, Turner (1775-1851) was crabby and unsociable at best, reclusive and volatile at worst.

Caption: “The Fighting Temeraire, 1838”

By Deena Sherman

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was the quintessential American artist, depicting an American life in a manner that made him famous not only in the USA, but around the world. What is more, he painted in a realistic style when everyone around him was embracing abstract art, in particular, surrealism and impressionism. He depicted the American obvious: the highway, the pharmacy and the gas station. He also depicted the alienation of city life, individuals who did not communicate and preferred a voyeuristic view of women in windowed rooms, like the one depicted here. Hopper painted with poignancy and excellence, and for that he was honored in his own lifetime.

By Deena Sherman

British artist, David Hockney, famous almost as much for his image as well as his art, turns seventy this year. From the humble beginnings of a working class Bradford family, he became a pop icon when only in his twenties, with his art becoming increasingly well known and sought after. Hockney was the fourth of five children born in 1937 to rather strict parents, Laura and Kenneth, with whom Hockney had to argue with in order to go to art school rather than leaving school to earn a living as his older siblings all had done around the age of 16.

By Deena Sherman

A bed made of arrows is not generally counted among the beds one would be happy to rest on. The bed of arrows as shown in this painting belongs to Bhishma, a hero of the Hindus. In this article I will relate a little of Bishma’s story, as well as some Hindu beliefs regarding sleep.

By Patricia Reaney

Pablo Picasso, Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas had more in common than simple creativity. They also had active sex lives, which researchers say was no coincidence. Psychologists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Open University in Britain found that professional artists and poets have about twice as many partners as other people. Their creativity seems to act like a sexual magnet.