Absinthe has been a topic of great consternation in both social and artistic circles for generations. The green liquor dates back to Greek and Roman times and is even mentioned in the Bible, but it has still managed to gain a negative reputation over the last hundred years. All 19th century society enjoyed and drank absinthe. It, and the controversy surrounding it, inspired many painters of the time such as Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Raphaelli, to create works with the drink. Although it was a controversial substance, absinthe provided these artists with the inspiration and motivation needed to create some, if not most, of their works. Absinthe has many mind-altering side effects that were highly sought after, as well as some that were not so desirable. Some of these side effects include euphoria, mania, seizures, violence, hallucinations, blindness, and "lightning." Euphoria, hallucinations and enlightenment led this drink to become "the poor man's way of escaping reality" and in Manet's Absinthe Drinker, the glass of absinthe in the work was to be recognized as the outlet of escape and disappointment for the poor. of the time consumed enormous quantities of absinthe due to the extremely high prices of wine. Due to high prices, absinthe became a cheaper alternative; thus the poor could still achieve intoxication and escape reality. Society in the 1800s began to blame absinthe for cultural fears about sexuality, madness and aggression. As a result of the drink's overwhelming popularity, winemakers of the time began losing money, so they in turn supported the Temperance Movement, which targeted absinthe and blamed it for... half the paper... . ..and with Absinthe, which features a glass of the greenish-yellow liquid next to a bottle of water, which was used to dilute the drink. Van Gogh was a heavy drinker of the volatile liquid and had many outbursts of hysteria, hallucinations and convulsions. As such, absinthe's cultural legacy is more closely associated with him than any other painters who had drunk the drink. Van Gogh's antics were well known, such as when he cut off his ear during one of his absinthe binges. Van Gogh also knew that his indulgence in absinthe aided his artistic creativity. In letters to his brother Theo he wrote that "if I recover, I will have to start all over again and will no longer reach the heights to which the illness has partially brought me." Some scholars have speculated that Van Gogh's heavy use of absinthe caused a condition called xanthopsia, which causes yellow vision.