Tuberkuloza je imala velik utjecaj na povijest čovječanstva pa tako i na umjetnost. Što bi umjetnički geniji iz svijeta književnosti, glazbe i slikarstva stvorili da nisu umrli vrlo mladi? U radu je prikazan utjecaj tuberkuloze na stvaranje umjetnika koji su bolovali od tuberkuloze. Tijekom romantizma pojavilo se mišljenje da tuberkuloza u oboljelih povećava kreativne sposobnosti. Među piscima koji su oboljeli od tuberkuloze bili su poznati njemački pisci: Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller i Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg. Tuberkulozan je bio i pisao o tubekulozi Lord Gordon Byron, a i Edgar Allan Poe je još kao dijete ostao bez roditelja oboljenih od tubekuloze, a i sam je umro od te bolesti. John Keats, engleski pjesnik, a i cijela njegova obitelj umrli su od tuberkuloze; od tuberkuloze je umro i ruski književnik Anton Pavlovič Čehov. Obitelj Brontë jedna je od najtragičnijih, ali isto tako i najtalentiranijih književnih obitelji. Svi su kao vrlo mladi umrli od tuberkuloze. Antun Branko Šimić, jedan od najvećih hrvatskih pjesnika, umro je od tuberkuloze u 27. godini života. Iako nije dugo živio, A. B. Šimić ostavio je iznimno bogati knjiženi opus. Mnogobrojna obitelj, otac i braća Ive Andrića književnika i dobitnika Nobelove nagrade za kniževnost umrli su od tuberkuloze, a i sam Ivo Andrić je dugo bolovao od te bolesti. U operama “La Traviata” Giuseppea Verdija i “La bohème” Giacoma Puccinija tematizirana je bolest toga vremena. tuberkuloza. Frederic Chopin, utjelovljenje je romantičarskog umjetnika, ne samo zbog pripadnosti stilskom razdoblju romantizma, već i zbog svog života ispunjenog događajima, osobnih i društvenih patnji. Umro je u 39. godini od tuberkuloze i uz velike je počasti pokopan na groblju Père Lachasie u Parizu, a njegovo je srce, potajno, prenijeto u Varšavu, gdje je uzidano u jedan stup crkve Svetoga Križa. Tuberkuloza je bila zastupljena i u likovnoj umjetnosti. Talijanski slikar Amadeo Modigliani, u početku svog umjetničkog rada želio je postati kipar, ali tjelesni napor prilikom klesanja, prašina i kašalj odvratili su ga od klesanja i vratili slikarstvu. Umro je od tuberkuloze u 36. godini života. Ferdinandu Hodleru, švicarskom slikaru, otac, majka, braća i sestre umrli su od tuberkuloze. Ovo teško iskustvo bolesti i smrti odrazilo se na njegovo slikarstvo. Edvard Munch, samouki norveški slikar bio je duboko pogođen smrću voljenih članova obitelji. Mračna raspoloženja tjeskobe i očaja ogledavaju se na njegovim platnima. Opisani su i mnogi hrvatski slikari oboljeli ili umrli od tuberkuloze: (Slava Raškaj umrla je u 29. godini života, Miroslav Kraljević u 28., Milan Steiner u 25., Tomislav Kolombar u 21. godina života). Usprkos njihovim kratkim životima, svaki je od njih ostvario izniman, cjelovit i znatan umjetnički opus. Tuberculosis has had an immeasurable impact on the history of mankind, including art. What would an artistic genius have brought into the world of books, music or painting had they not died very young? The influence of tuberculosis on artistic activity and artists suffering from it are presented. During the period of Romanticism, there was the myth that tuberculosis increased creative abilities among the afflicted. Writers suffering from tuberculosis included the renowned German writers Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg. Lord Gordon Byron wrote about tuberculosis, while Edgar Allan Poe lost his parents to tuberculosis as a child, and later himself died of it. The English poet John Keats perished from the disease, together with his entire family, as did Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The Brontë family is one of the most tragic but also the most talented literary families, with all its members dying of tuberculosis at a very young age. Antun Branko Simic, one of Croatia’s greatest poets, died of tuberculosis at the age of 27. Despite his short life, he left an extraordinary literary legacy. Ivo Andric, writer and Nobel Prize laureate for literature suffered from the disease for a long time, while his father and brothers died of it. The operas La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini were met with a great problem at the time, tuberculosis. Frederic Chopin is the incarnation of a Romantic artist, not only because he belongs to the stylistic period of Romanticism, but also because of his life marked with personal and social suffering. He died at the age of 39 from tuberculosis and was interred with great honours at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, while his heart was secretly transferred to Warsaw, where it was built into a column in the Church of the Holy Cross. Tuberculosis is widely represented in the fine arts. An example is Italian painter Amadeo Modigliani, who initially wanted to become a sculptor. However, the physical effort involved in stonemasonry, dust and cough eventually distracted him from sculpting and brought him back to painting. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 36. Ferdinand Hodler, a Swiss painter, lost his parents and all of his siblings to tuberculosis. This great experience of illness and death in his youth was reflected in his painting. Edvard Munch, a self-taught Norwegian painter, was deeply affected by the death of loved family members, reflected by the dark moods of anxiety and despair in his paintings. Many Croatian painters also suffered from the disease, and some died, such as Slava Raškaj, who died at the age of 29, then Miroslav Kraljevic, at the age of 28, Milan Steiner at the age of 25, or Tomislav Kolombar, at the age of 20. Despite their short life spans, each of these artists achieved an exceptional, complete and significant opus.