Communicable diseases have been forcing people into isolation throughout history. When the plague or Spanish flu runs rampant, you don’t have to be sick to want to separate yourself from every one else. If you are stuck at home doing nothing, you can take some inspiration from those who turned a boring situation and turned it into an opportunity for contemplation and creativity.
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The Scream painter Edvard Munch didn’t just witness the Spanish Flu pandemic change the world around him—he contracted the disease around the beginning of 1919, while living in Norway. But instead of becoming one of its many victims, Munch lived to continue making great art. As soon as he felt physically capable, he gathered his painting supplies and began capturing his physical state. Self-Portrait with the Spanish Flu shows him with thinning hair and a gaunt face sitting in front of his sickbed.
Read about four other men whose greatest achievements came while hiding from disease at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Edvard Munch)
Source: neatorama