Phlegmish Paintings
From Falsipedia
Phlegmish Paintings
Phlegmish paintings are a class of painting characterized by a drab green and brown color palette. Phlegmish painters tended to either be suffering from consumption, now known as tuberculosis, or be in close proximity to those who were. In the consumptive state, there was a great deal of phlegm produced. This phlegm was collected and used to paint the canvas.
In addition to the distinctive color scheme these "paints" provided, the phlegm also produced a vaguely impressionist effect on the finished paintings. The phlegm's thick and inconsistent makeup made producing fine detail difficult, though not impossible. The main period of phlegmish painting was from 1630 - 1680 AD.
The phlegmish movement's painters were quite prolific compared to contemporary painters, mainly because traditional painters had less access to paints in those times. Despite this abundance of painted works, very few survived the combined effects of environmental damages and the realization by many art collectors that dried phlegm paintings were "gross." Strangely, though out of fashion, the phlegmish aesthetic was one of the strongest influences of 18th century impressionist painters.
Points of Interest and Confusion
It was commonly thought that those suffering from consumption became more creative as the affliction brought them towards death. In large part, these ideas were brought about by the works of the phlegmish painters. No scientific data exists to confirm or deny the idea that the tuberculosis caused the creativity.
Though similar sounding, the works of the phlegmish painters bears almost no resemblance to the Flemish painters. The Flemish painters tended to make colorful and excessively detailed portraits, rather than blobby, drab scenes. The consumptive phlegmish painters tended to collapse after exertion.
