Absinthe: "banned" today, once the favorite drink of artists

The history of alcohol banned in most of Europe inspired many writers and Van Gogh to cut his ear

Absinthe is a drink known for its hallucinogenic effects and popularity with legendary authors and artists. Arthur Rimbaud called it the "glacier plant" because of a key ingredient: the Artemisia plant, found in the icy regions of Switzerland. It is here that the legendary aromatic drink came to symbolize decadence. It was invented at the end of the XVIII century.

During the Golden Age, the Green Drink – nicknamed for its distinctive color – was the drink of choice for many writers and artists in Paris. 17:00 was called the Green Hour, a happy hour when cafes were filled with Absinthe drinkers. This drink strengthened or destroyed friendships, created visions or dream states that served as inspiration for artistic works. It shaped Symbolism, Surrealism, Modernism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism. Dozens of artists used it.

Absinthe, in its conception, did not differ from other herbal medicinal preparations. Its aroma is similar to that of fennel. This drink was a kind of aperitif to create hallucinations and strange behavior. Contemporary analysis shows that it caused a psychoactive effect. Many people have been poisoned by the alcohol it contains, when they drank 12-20 glasses a day.

Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Emile Zola, Alfred Jarry and Oscar Wilde were among the many writers who consumed it. Jarry insisted on drinking it pure, Baudelaire also used opium, and Rimbaud combined it with hashish. They write about the addiction to it and the effect on the creative process.

In the poem "Poison" from his 1857 volume The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire ranked Absinthe before wine and opium. Edmund White, in his biographical notes, saw Absinthe as an artistic tool, while Rimbaud as a way to change reality. According to him, "in order for a poet's senses to reach long, extraordinary and rational disturbances, this hallucinogenic effect could only be given by Absinthe".

Guy de Maupassant drank alcohol, as did the characters in his short stories. In one of his stories, he describes a provincial notary who was invited to the studio of an acclaimed painter. She drank so much Absinthe that she tried to waltz with his chair and then fell to the ground. From that moment, he forgets everything and the next day he wakes up naked in a foreign bed.

Contemporaries believe that Absinthe shortened the lives of the Baudelaires, Jarry and the poets Verlaine and Alfred de Musset. From this drink, Vincent Van Gogh cut and wore. In 1915 Absinthe was banned in France, Switzerland, USA and most of Europe, because it has caused murders.

The Green Drink faded as a cultural influence for most of the 60th century. It was replaced by cocktails, martinis and in the XNUMXs by drugs.

Ernest Hemingway used Absinthe while working as a journalist in the 20s, and then during the Spanish Civil War. Even the characters in his works were comforted with this drink.

At the end of the 1989th century, Absinthe became a reference point among a new generation of writers in San Francisco and New Orleans. "Absinthe burned my throat with its aroma," wrote horror writer Poppy Z Brite in a XNUMX story.

"Today's absinthe is a drink that numbs the tongue but sharpens the senses," says Lance Winter, master brewer who offered the first legal Absinthe in the United States in late 2007.

"In my opinion, absinthe gives you a kind of supernatural 'touch,'" says New York Times columnist Rosie Schaap.

In today's literary circles, Absinthe is seen more as a pastime, as a kind of cocktail offered in the evening. Now it is widely available, in versions of different quality, from the weakest quality to 10 thousand dollars a bottle - like the Marilyn Manson brand.

As an ingredient in cocktails, Absinthe is remembered as part of the writers of the Golden Age.

Rumor has it that when Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear and gave it to a prostitute, he was drunk on Absinthe. He is depicted standing quietly in front of a glass of drink in a portrait painted by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1887. Even his best friends have portrayed the painter as one of the best patrons of the drink. He became known as the most regular consumer and its influence was later noticed in his paintings. He even made a portrait of himself, standing in his favorite bar drinking Absinthe.

For more than a century, stories of madness and hallucinations caused by the drink, which in the slang was called "La fée verte" (The Green Fairy), have circulated throughout Europe. That's because no other drink in the world, with the possible exception of cognac, has had such a long list of celebrity customers. Historians of the time indicate that more than 30 thousand "gentlemen" in Paris, which included the most prominent artists of the time, consumed Absinthe in 1860. What was called the "Beautiful Age" was characterized by the excessive consumption of the so-called "Green Fairy". No one who entered the cafes of culture could escape without drinking it. In the long list of artists in love with her, Pablo Picasso, Julius Verne, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Vincent Van Gogh, Hilaire-Germain Edgar Degas, Paul Marie Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway and many others. All these were proud of the bohemian style of living, accompanied by a lot of Absinthe…

Johnny Depp, the famous Hollywood actor, is still one of the most regular users of Absinthe. When he had to portray the drink of the "Green Fairy", he said: "I hated cocaine, but I used it like Absinthe, which is like marijuana: drink a lot and suddenly you understand why Van Gogh cut off his ear."

Oscar Wilde fell in love with this famous drink and used it in large quantities. "After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second glass, you see things as they are not. In the end, you see things as they are in reality, and this is the ugliest thing in the world", said the famous writer. /Endri Farka/