Absinthe and creative people. Absinthe

Mysterious, intoxicating, passionate, poisonous, destructive, delightful, fashionable, insidious and even mystical...
As soon as this drink was not called.

The real green wizard is a symbol of inconsistency. Absinthe...

Describing the beginning of the 20th century, it is impossible not to mention absinthe! I have been postponing this post for a long time, all hoping one day to make friends with the green fairy. After all, even a thousand words cannot replace your own impressions and feelings. But it's not destiny...

Let's just try to tell, and of course show, the time when the "Malachite Wanderer" (another nickname for absinthe) conquered the whole world.

In fact, absinthe is a strong wormwood tincture. Most often, this bitter tincture has an emerald- green color, but absinthe can also be brown, yellow, and even red. The composition of absinthe, in addition to wormwood extract, includes extracts of anise, fennel, lemon balm and others. medicinal herbs. To keep essential oils in a dissolved form, a high concentration of alcohol is required, so absinthe has a strength of up to 70-75%. An important component of this drink is a substance called "thujone". IN large quantities thujone is a powerful hallucinogen and a dangerous poison, in small quantities it causes intoxication, in many respects different from alcohol. The effect of drinking absinthe can be different. The wormwood drink gives someone relaxation, someone charges with vigor, someone after drinking the tincture is covered by outbursts of uncontrollable laughter.

Mysterious, intoxicating, passionate, poisonous, destructive, delightful, fashionable, insidious and mystical…
Today, it is even difficult to imagine how popular absinthe was at the end of the 19th century. Some enthusiasts believe that in those days absinthe overtook wine in popularity in France. Absinthe has even become one of the symbols of France.

The "Green Fairy" completely took over the French bohemia. Vincent van Gogh, Guy de Maupassant, Arthur Rimbaud, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, Guillaume Apollinaire, Oscar Wilde, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Erich Maria Remarque and many other representatives of the creative intelligentsia were among the admirers of absinthe. Writers, artists and poets looked for inspiration in absinthe and, it should be noted, they successfully found it.

Moi, ma gloire n "est qu" une humble absinthe ephemere
Prize en catimini, crainte des trahisons,
Et, si je n "en bois pas plus, c" est pour des raisons.

My fame is but a pathetic ephemeral absinthe
Drunk secretly, with fear of betrayal,
And if I don't drink it anymore, I have reasons for it.

"Whisky and beer are for fools, absinthe is for poets. Absinthe has magical power, it can destroy or renew the past, cancel or predict the future," wrote the English poet Ernest Dawson.

"After the first glass, you see things the way you want them to be. After the second, you see them the way they weren't. Finally, you see them the way they really are, and it's very scary" (Oscar Wilde).

The popularity of absinthe was also promoted by interesting rituals associated with its use. Oh no, absinthe was not drunk like ordinary alcohol - drinking absinthe is a whole magical act. The fact is that due to the fact that a high concentration of alcohol is required to keep essential oils (thujone) in solution, absinthe has a strength of up to 70-75%. As you understand, it is very difficult to drink it undiluted, besides, because of the wormwood, absinthe was quite bitter (of course, not as insanely bitter as modern wormwood vodkas - which are sold under the guise of absinthe, but still). Therefore, absinthe had to be diluted and sweetened.

There were several ways:

Classic way. A special spoon is placed across the glass (a fashionable and stylish accessory - remember the rituals), a piece of sugar is placed on the spoon. Ice water is poured through a sugar cube until the drink turns cloudy (essential oils fall out). The syrup dilutes the absinthe and makes it sweeter.

The second way is more spectacular - a piece of sugar is pre-wetted in absinthe and set on fire. After a few drops of melted sugar fall into the glass, ice water is poured. This method softens the taste of the drink even more, but carries some danger: absinthe in a glass can catch fire (it's almost pure alcohol).

The water dissolves the sugar, which mixes with the absinthe. Sweet water helps to hide the bitter taste of absinthe. There is an opinion that sweet water is a catalyst for the action of thujone. When water is mixed with absinthe, the drink becomes cloudy and becomes iridescent. White color with shades of green and yellow. This effect is called louche. Turbidity occurs due to the fact that alcohol diluted with water is not able to retain the essential oils contained in absinthe, and they fall out of it.

Fine accessories…

…special beautiful glasses…

... and the whole romantic touch of the "Green Fairy" (La Fee Verte) contributed to great popularity.

But the wild popularity of absinthe did him a disservice...
It was very Reviver- 70 degrees...
Naturally, it was much easier for them to sleep banally than traditional wine. Paradoxically, the phylloxera disease, which destroyed almost all vineyards in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, contributed to the decline of absinthe. There is a paradoxical situation

"A glass of absinthe, which cost 15 centimes, was three times cheaper than bread, and a bottle of wine at that time could cost a whole franc." The drunkenness of the Bohemians met with the drunkenness of the workers. In absinthe, the people and the intelligentsia found unity. Absinthe soothed small children. And the love of absinthe among women was explained by emancipation - along with a short haircut and smoking. Accustomed to wine, the commoners simply rapidly became an inveterate drunkard... It was not the alcohol itself that was blamed in general - namely, the popular absinthe. Compare with the criticism of vodka in Russia - well, they would not drink vodka, but, for example, whiskey or cognac. How much would change?

In August 1905, Swiss farmer Jean Landfrey, after drinking a lot of wine, liqueurs, absinthe and other alcohol, shot his entire family to death. Since Landfray was a well-known absinthe drinker, absinthe was blamed for what had happened. This story took the front pages of European newspapers. The articles said that the farmer was under the influence of drunk absinthe, and the fact that he drank several bottles of a wide variety of alcoholic beverages that day was ignored.

Nevertheless, the fate of absinthe was sealed. In 1907, an article banning absinthe was introduced into the Swiss constitution.

But the First World War finally killed absinthe - in 1915 absinthe was banned in France, largely in search of a scapegoat for the defeat of the army in 1914. Russia generally introduced a “dry law” from the beginning of the war. Absinthe was also banned in America. As a result, after a few years, the "Green Fairy" was legally banned for use in many countries of the world. Surprisingly, the Belle Époque, which I loved so much, ended simultaneously with the ban on absinthe.

Today, absinthe seems to be back on the shelves ...
Unfortunately, what is sold today under the name "absinthe" is essentially a simple wormwood vodka.

On sale you can even find drinks called absinthe with a strength of 55%. (remember essential oils?). Such "absinthes" are very distantly related to legendary drink. It is useless to wait for any vivid impressions from such an "absinthe". What is good about such a drink is the ease of drinking, in comparison with vodka.

The European Union, having allowed the modern "absinthe", practically deprived the drink of the most important component - thujone. Now the content of thujone should not exceed 10 mg per liter, while in old times the content of thujone was 20 times higher - the current absinthe in its own way biochemical composition has the same relation to "that same absinthe" as polar bear to magellanic clouds

This is where the fun begins...

It turns out that absinthe infusions can be quite simply made at home.
I, sinfully, have long planned a small operation to turn a few harmless herbs into real absinthe in my own kitchen. :)
But due to some life circumstances, this is probably no longer realistic.
So I will share with you simple recipe(Forcedly illustrated with photographs of a certain network enthusiast ...)

You don't need a lot of ingredients:

Per LITER of alcohol: (where to get alcohol, I hope I don’t need to explain?) :)

100 g - bitter wormwood (pharmaceutical)
50 g. - anise
50 g. - fennel

Wormwood is carefully crushed. All ingredients are poured into glass jar. Pour alcohol. Close the lid tightly

Then you can leave the mixture to infuse for a week or two in a warm place.

You can speed up the process by heating the mixture (not recommended). We squeeze the bottle so that there is no free air left in it, and twist it tightly with a cork. We get such a crumpled plastic bottle with a semi-finished

We put this crumpled bottle in water, and heat it up strongly. (Attention: part of the alcohol goes into a gaseous state and the bottle begins to straighten out under an excess of alcohol vapor. And you need to make sure that the alcohol vapor does not knock out the cork). In theory, heating (not boiling) should evaporate the essential substances into alcohol. "Hot" soaking is carried out for at least 12 hours. "Cold" soaking (normal infusion in a warm place) lasts 1 week (recommended).

It doesn't matter which way - whether by ordinary soaking, or by heating - but we get a strong herbal tincture. Next, this tincture must be overtaken.
Yes, yes - since moonshine :)
It's actually not as difficult as it might seem. Distillation schemes ( moonshine stills) is a great many. From the most primitive to the most complex. You can buy a copper pipe (I hope everyone knows that the pipe must be bent by pouring sand in there beforehand) and finding an old pressure cooker to make such a simple apparatus:

The bottom hose feeds from the kitchen faucet cold water, the top one takes it to the sink (all connections are perfectly sealed with bread crumb)

Pour the herbal tincture into the pressure cooker. Be sure to pour 450 gr. water and mix.

Starts to drip.

The first 10-20 grams must be poured out (separate light fractions)

After about 5 hours, 900 grams of almost transparent absinthe should drip.

Discilate is poured into a half-liter bottle.
Finishing (recipe):
2 g - wormwood
3 g. - sage
5 g - peppermint
5 years - Melissa
5 g - licorice (licorice root)
Zest from one lemon
All this, as in the first part, without air, closes, shakes and into hot water. Coloring occurs before the eyes. The drink turned amber green. It should be noted that the softness of the taste of absinthe, with all the methods of its preparation, appears only after some time. Therefore, the resulting drink must be allowed to settle (in a dark glass container)

Not very big efforts and expenses - and we have REAL absinthe in our hands.

It remains to invite good friends ... Set fire to sugar and fall into the arms of a witching green fairy, leading unhurried conversations about the magical La Belle Epoque ...

OLD CUSTOMS

Drinking absinthe has become a custom in its own way, or even a ritual, the French drank one serving ending their daily life and moving into an evening mood, in general it was evening meal. It was believed that it improves appetite, it could be called a good strong aperitif with its wormwood property, which aroused the stomach to appetite. No one drank during the meal, and it is not possible to combine it with food because of its sharp herbal flavor. The time between five and seven o'clock in the evening was called the green hour (“l”heure verte”), which could even be smelled in the streets of France. In any case, the time for drinking was established for a reason, it kept people from abusing absinthe. If you noticed that a person is abusing, then it was contemptuous and not prestigious. All of the fact that absinthe caused alcoholism, even gave it the name "absentism". Absinthe lovers were ashamed to drink a lot in public, so many ran from one cafe to another.

ABSINTH AND CREATIVE PEOPLE

SALVADOR DALI

Salvador Dali is a genius, a heritage of Spain and world culture, the founder of surrealism. He also loved absinthe, but thank God he didn’t get sick of it. Here is his drink related poster. Most likely, the poster characterizes the look of Dali during the French colonial wars and what killed these soldiers, absinthe, moths with syphilis.

VINCENT VAN GOGH
The great artist Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh regularly drank absinthe containing the thujone component and its overdose leads to a change in color perception: a person sees everything in yellow tones. Maybe that's why he emphasized the importance of yellow in his paintings, or did he just love yellow?

Self-portrait and Still Life with Absinthe.

PICASSO
Spanish artist, founder of cubism. His personality is so complex that it does not fit into the framework of conventional ideas. I also liked absinthe.
"The Absinthe Drinker" 1901

EDWARD MANE
For the fact that Edouard Manet portrayed a drunkard, the salon rejected the picture, and after that he was criticized for a long time not only for this, but for the fact that in this picture there was an incorrect perspective of the table “Feeling of a flying glass” and the shadows of the figures were not in place.

EDGAR DEGA

This picture also received a lot of criticism. And it was caused by the fact that their image was disgusting. The woman is stooped, with a lowered look, her legs are stretched out in addition to just a number of absinthe. A man with a tired and turned look somewhere into the distance, thinks about his hangover, and just to his side is a cold, tonic drink for a hangover "Mazagran" (Water, Cognac, Sugar, Ground Coffee). The drink was invented by the French in 1840 in Algiers, during an ambush from an army of thousands of Algerians, in order to keep themselves in hand in such a tense environment. They drank it not through a coffee cup, but through a glass for mulled wine, the fact is that where they kept the ambush there were no other dishes, so it became a kind of tradition. And what about the picture, then they gave it to her good feedback, like she had a "Moral" of those times "Absinthe Times". The painting is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

VICTOR OLIVA
The Czech modernist became addicted to absinthe in Paris. The famous work “Drinking Absinthe” Oliva created in 1901. The picture can be seen in the cafe "Slavia". By the way, the film received good reviews from critics. She was not called the personification of drunkenness or drug addiction.

CHARLES CROSS
Charles Cross was a very talented and versatile person. He was an inventor, a poet, and an artist. Known as the inventor of the color camera. Often used absinthe almost 30 times a day. Was known in many Parisian absinthe cafes.

PAUL MARIE VERLAIN
Poet of Paris, suffered from absenteeism. Because of his illness for absinthe, he beat his wife, shot his girlfriend and threatened relatives. He was a contradiction to himself, in one word she was "Dependent".

ERNEST HEMINGWAY
The poet absinthe drinker, drank absinthe even after its prohibition in many countries of the world. Illegally smuggled absinthe into the US. “Green dope”, “Death at noon”, “For whom the bell tolls” there is absinthe, but rather in the form of a hero who participates in the works.

ALISTER CROWLEY
An ardent defender of absinthe. Absinthe he called art and in his work he wrote many of his works on this topic. The Green Goddess is a famous work where he defends and justifies absinthe. Here is one example: “Separate the part of yourself that “exists” and perceives from the other part that acts and suffers in the outside world.”

Although absinthe was popular, great people paid special tribute to it with their creativity, it still did not get along in society. I think all because of his narcotic properties, he lost respectability in society and the society itself began to accuse him of murders, schizophrenia and alcoholism. Therefore, in our time, this drink is like some kind of old legend, without much popularity than in those centuries. Famous people do not talk about it, no one writes about it, and no one personifies it in their paintings.

Those who coped with the absinthe disease received inspiration - they wrote bestsellers, painted popular paintings. So it is impossible to call absinthe a bad or a good drink, it depends on the person. Analyzing why he became so in demand among creative personalities, I can say one thing. All famous writers and artists loved something narcotic, intoxicating, something that opened up their imagination for their work. Therefore, absinthe got used well in the 19th century during the “Paphos, glamor and secular society” when art was revered as anything else bohemian.
He is like an unbridled phoenix that crashed and reborn again,
and of course revived with less thujone content, making it safe to consume. But there is a brand in Sweden “King of spirits. Gold." which contains 100 g per liter, who knows, maybe you can see the green fairy in our time.

TRADITIONAL ABSINTH DRINKING

FRENCH.
This is the only The right way use of the Green Fairy. Pour a small portion of the drink (40 ml) into the glass, place on top special spoon for absinthe, and on it a piece of sugar. Before drinking absinthe, pour cold, ice-cold water over sugar until the drink begins to cloudy, the French call this effect “Louche” (cloudy). Diluted alcohol ceases to retain essential oils and they form an emulsion with water, precipitate and aroma appears.

CZECH.
Absinthe is poured into a small glass, an absinthe spoon is placed on top, and a piece of sugar soaked in the drink is placed on top of it. Sugar is set on fire and waited until it caramelizes, that is, it melts, turns into caramel and seeps into absinthe. Then the contents of the glass should be diluted with water to taste and drink. This method can hardly be called classic - it is most likely a tribute to fashion and modern bar culture.

RUSSIAN.
I don’t know why it is called the Russian way, but that is how it is called in all literary sources. The syrup is prepared in advance: you need to dilute sugar in water to taste, and then add the resulting syrup to absinthe (again to taste) and drink. Also, pure absinthe can first be set on fire, and then extinguished and poured into a glass of syrup.

EXTREME.
This is how absinthe is often served in nightclubs. We need rocks, that is, a glass with thick straight walls, a cognac glass, a napkin and a straw. Sprite is poured into rocks, and absinthe is poured into cognac. The cognac glass is placed on the rocks, the absinthe is set on fire, after which the cognac needs to be scrolled so that the drink and the glass are heated evenly. After that, the absinthe is poured into the sprite and the rock is covered with a cognac glass - the flame goes out. Before this, you need to prepare a napkin, in the center of which you need to make a hole and thread the short part of the tube there. After the flame is extinguished, the brandy must be placed upside down on a straw. Drink absinthe with sprite and breathe in the vapors left in the cognac through a straw or vice versa.

Absinthe, being a remedy that was treated and unsuccessfully treated for its entire short history, was on everyone's lips (forgive my pun:). This magical drink began to possess an incredibly destructive power when the human genius began to give its love to it. French writers and artists were looking for inspiration in him alone, but ... As it was then customary to say, “He is a genius for mediocrity, but death for a true genius.” But, then this only confirms the fact that absinthe, as an inspirer, works flawlessly! Otherwise, Picasso and Van Gogh would not have painted their beautiful paintings, and the lines of Paul Verlaine would have stuck in the throat of this great nightingale of French symbolism ...

• “Absinthe and women – don’t these two devils initially live in the soul of every man?..” (Alfred de Musset)

• “Absinthe is one of the best and safest aphrodisiacs ever invented by people” (Maurice Zolotow)

• “After the first glass, you see things the way you want them to. After the second, you see them as they were not. Finally, you see them for what they really are” (Oscar Wilde)

• “What makes absinthe a special cult? It seems as if the first inventor of absinthe was indeed a magician, persistently looking for a combination of sacred potions that would cleanse, strengthen and bestow fragrance on the human soul ”(Aleister Crowley)

• “This insidious drink, and the habit of it quickly takes possession of its victim, who sooner or later gives up trying to curb his passion ...” (Robert Sherrard)

• “… the green fairy living in absinthe needs your soul….” or “the legend says that a fairy lives in every drop of absinthe. swallow it - and it will take possession of your soul ... ”(from the movie“ Dracula by Bram Stoker ”).

• “Whiskey and beer are for fools, absinthe is for poets. Absinthe has magical powers, it can destroy or renew the past, undo or predict the future” (Ernest Dawson)

• “I just can’t get used to absinthe, but it suits my style so much” (O. Wilde)

• "Absinthe! One sip of the disgusting witch, one sip still captivated me, but then my drinking led to more dire consequences ... This source of madness and crime, idiocy and disgrace, governments should have imposed a heavy tax, if not banned altogether. Absinthe!" (Paul Verlaine).

• “In the spring, Tipaza lives by the gods, the gods are expressed in the appearance of the sun and the fragrance of absinthe” (Albert Camus)

• “Rise, doubles, we are going to the country of absinthe! Our life is a theater, we are art, and the world will now become a beautiful grotesque stage, as it should be. “I was able to drink twelve bottles of absinthe - the same amount that Van Gogh drank when he cut off his ear. I didn't cut off my ear, but I think I really wanted to go further than ever." “That's my vice for the last eight years, but absinthe doesn't get you so drunk that you can't function. You either have incredible dreams - I often wake up and draw or write - or you do not sleep for three days. That's how I am now." (M. Manson)

Absinthe – wormwood bitters with very high content alcohol, which, due to its emerald color, was called the "Green Fairy". There is probably no other drink that would be so strongly associated with the French bohemia. No wonder the classics of literature devoted thousands of lines to this cult drink, great artists depicted it on their canvases, and even in films of a hundred years ago, you can find shots with absinthe. But, like many legends and myths, absinthe is fraught with an ominous connotation.

Absinthe, like spirits whiskey and gin, began its history as a medicine. Invented in 1792 by a certain Dr. Pierre Ordinier, absinthe was first used by the French colonial army as an antimalarial. But several special properties made it attractive to absinthe drinkers (or absinthe drinkers) - people who abused absinthe in everyday life.
It is known that the composition of absinthe includes anise, fennel, mint, lemon balm, angelica and other herbs. However, its most important component is wormwood. Even the name absinthe comes from the Latin name wormwood – Artemisia absinthium, which combines the name of the goddess Artemis, whose sacred plant was considered wormwood, and the Greek definition of " apsinthion", meaning "not drinking".

Wormwood contains a large number of thujone- a substance that has a strong effect on the brain. In addition, a high concentration of alcohol is required to retain essential oils, which is why absinthe has a strength of about 70 degrees. With this combination, this drink can intoxicate the mind and cause unusual sensations and even hallucinations. This is the second reason why the insidious absinthe is nicknamed " green fairy ».

However, many representatives creative bohemia It didn't scare me, but, on the contrary, it attracted me. Famous picture " Absinthe drinker» Czech artist Victor Oliva(1861-1928), which hangs on the wall of the historical cafe "Slavia" in Prague, as if visualizes this property of absinthe, to which Oliva became addicted, having moved to Paris.

Absinthe has been the muse and "mistress" of many poets and artists since the 18th century. The magical potion of wormwood tincture was favored by such masters of words and brushes as Charles Baudelaire, Maupassant, Toulouse Lautrec, Picasso, Monet and many other outstanding creative personalities. They often drew their inspiration from absinthe, blurring the line between the real and the "absinthe" world. Dependence on this "cocaine of the 19th century" famous English philosopher, writer and aesthete Oscar Wilde converted to "romantic theories":

There is nothing more poetic in the world than a glass of absinthe. I equate the pleasure of absinthe with the pleasure of watching the sunset,” wrote Oscar Wilde. - If you drink enough of this drink, you will see everything you want - beautiful, amazing things

Since then, absinthe has been associated with fin de siecle, the decadence of the 90s of the XIX century, the finest hour of absinthe, when everything green was considered exquisite, and absinthe was credited with the ability to endow a person with extraordinary acuity of sensations, a clear and vivid perception of the world.

Absinthe is a bitter drink, so sweet water was traditionally added to it. It happened like this: one part of absinthe was poured into a glass, then a long and narrow spatula with patterned holes was placed on top of the surface, and 1-2 pieces of sugar were placed on it. Then cold water was poured over the sugar in a thin stream, from which it slowly melted, and sweet water flowed into the glass. It's classic french way absinthe use. Other methods involved setting fire to the sugar soaked in the drink to form a sweet caramel.

Preparation fragrant drink, ceremonies and etiquette were an intricate ritual, in honor of which posters, postcards and even postage stamps were published in France. Many of them were made in a cheerful, cheerful way.

In the cafe where absinthe lovers gathered, a more courtly atmosphere reigned, which he successfully conveyed on his canvases Jean Bero- French salon painter-impressionist, who gained fame with genre works depicting the life of Parisian secular society. The presence of female images in many of his paintings, depicting Parisian cafes, is not accidental. Paris at the end of the 19th century was flooded with various intoxicating substances, some of which were very popular with exalted secular ladies. fashionable dessert there was a strawberry on the air. Morphine was also in fashion, which among the bohemian intelligentsia was considered a sign of progressive views. The best jewelers sold " women» exquisite silver and gold-plated syringes. Alexandre Dumas lamented that morphine was rapidly becoming "women's absinthe". But the real “female drug” was still absinthe. This is evidenced by the paintings of Jean Bero.

Paintings also became the property of history - “ absinthe drinker» Manet, «Absinthe» by Degas (originally called «Sketch for a French Cafe») and « Absinthe drinker» Spaniard Pablo Picasso. It is noteworthy that absinthe for Picasso became part of the urban, "modern" world, opposed to the still lifes of Matisse and Cezanne. His brightest absinthe masterpiece is the sculpture “Glass of absinthe” (1914). Picasso made 6 bronze copies of the sculpture, each of which is painted in its own way.

French post-impressionist painter Toulouse-Lautrec I also used absinthe regularly. He usually went out at the end of the day strangle the parrot "- an expression that existed in Montmartre and meant "drink a glass of absinthe." It was rumored that the cripple artist made a flask from his cane, which he filled with a magical drink.
It was said about the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec that they were painted entirely with absinthe. They also claim that it was thanks to these canvases that he became addicted to wormwood tincture. Vincent Van Gogh. In 1887, he even immortalized a glass of absinthe, which, in his words, "is as poetic as anything in this world."
But a year later, he attacked his friend Paul Gauguin with a razor in his hands, after which the doctors placed him in a ward for violent patients. Researchers tend to believe that the manifestation of aggression was caused by the frequent use of absinthe, and many art historians believe that it was the hallucinations from absinthe that became the source of color shades in the paintings of a genius. "Road with a cypress and a star" (1890) was one of the last paintings he painted in the hospital.

Contrary to the enthusiastic attitude towards absinthe of most representatives of Bohemia, obsessed with the idea Baudelaire that this drink ' gives life a joyful color and illuminates the dark nooks and crannies of being”, their abuse ended very badly.
And yet, the end of the 80s in France was a high point for absinthe. Absentomania then reached such proportions that the time between five and seven o'clock in the evening was called none other than l'heureverte (green time). During these hours, the streets of Paris, from the Latin Quarter to Montmartre, were filled with the vapors of wormwood, and the city's popular cafes were filled with modernist bohemians sipping emerald liquid.

Experiencing new horizons of sensuality and inspiration, the drink in different times did not ignore Emile Zola, Modigliani, Victor Hugo, Remarque, Ernest Dawson and Edgar Alan Poe . The latter was an alcoholic and often drank a mixture of absinthe and brandy. For a short time, towards the end of his life, Poe was able to give up drinking, but his friends seduced him again, and he soon died at the University of Washington hospital, suffering from hallucinations and delirium tremens.

One of the odious personalities of that time was Alfred Jarry(Alfred Jarry, 1873-1907). This French playwright entered the history of world literature as the author of one play "King Ubu", written not without the influence of absinthe. The second part of the play was a caustic satire on a well-fed, fat-mad France. Contemporaries "did not understand" the author, who, like Rimbaud or Lautreamont, instead of reflecting the serene atmosphere of the "beautiful era", anticipated the rebellious spirit of the coming times.
History judged differently: the grotesque comic farce written by Jarry in 1896 became a cult play of the early 20th century.
Not understood and not accepted by the high society, the author turned his existence into a conscious and cruel happening, shocking secular society. Legends circulated in France about his public antics and extravagant lifestyle. Of course, all his attempts to break through to success and escape from the bondage of debt were unsuccessful.
The last seven years of Jarry's life are the years of his rapid and almost conscious self-destruction. The famous French avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire said that Jarry on an empty stomach drank a half glass of absinthe with vinegar, adding a drop of ink there, claiming that this improved his digestion.
According to Jarry's friend, the writer Raschild - " Alfred's day began by drinking two liters of white wine; between ten and twelve o'clock three drinks of absinthe followed each other; at dinner, he washed down fish or a steak with red or white wine, alternating it with fresh portions of absinthe ... He was so saturated with ether that it was felt from a distance. He walked like a lunatic... I think that he died long before his physical death, and, as he himself once decided to write, his decaying brain, like some kind of mechanism, continued to work on the other side of the grave.».
Alfred Jarry received recognition after his death, when his work was rediscovered by Apollinaire and the Surrealist movement. In 1926, the famous actor and playwright Antonin Artaud created his own modern theater, posthumously naming it after Alfred Jarry, the first "rebel of the French stage."

No less sad is the fate of his namesake, the French poet, playwright and prose writer, one of the largest representatives of romanticism. Alfred de Musset (1810 -1857). It is known that he also constantly poisoned himself with absinthe and, having drunk himself, died at a fairly young age.

The symbolism of the green color of absinthe occupies a special place in the work of the great French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891). Where it has a green color, an allusion is almost certainly created with a drunken feast, which is perceived as a symbol of peace and happiness (poem of sounds "Vowels"). And in the famous poem "Sisters of Mercy" he commemorates absinthe as his "green Muse".
The sonnet appeared in the footsteps of the young man's journey through southern Belgium, where he visited " green zucchini"- an inn in the city of Charleroi. As contemporaries recall, everything in this tavern - from the walls of the house to the furniture - was painted green. At five o'clock in the afternoon came the so-called "green hour", the hour of aperitif, when regular visitors to drinking establishments sat down at the tables to drink absinthe.

His friend Paul Verlaine- the bohemian poet of Paris, who sang of this drink in his youth, writes in his autobiographical "Confession" (1895): " What kind of idiot dubbed him the magical, green Muse?!". He cursed the cloudy green liquid and called absinthe a "green witch", demanded that this "source of madness and crime, idiocy and disgrace" be banned. He developed such a sharp attitude towards absinthe because of his own passion for this drink. On archival photos taken in a Parisian cafe, he always sits with a glass of absinthe.

A sublime and sensitive man, in moments of absinthe eclipse, he attacked his wife, fired a revolver at his friend Rimbaud, demanded money from his elderly mother with a knife in his hands. At the same time, according to his friends, even on his deathbed, under his pillow, a bottle of absinthe was hidden. The "Green Witch" just did not let go of its fans.
The complex, ambiguous relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine is shown in Agnieszka Holland's talented film Total Eclipse (1995). It stars Leonardo DiCaprio (Arthur Rimbaud) and David Thewlis (Paul Verlaine).

By the way, first mention of absinthe in a movie took place in the 1899 French short La Bonne Absinthe. It is curious that this tape was staged by the world's first female film director Alice Guy.
In modern cinema, absinthe most often appears as the author's desire to emphasize aestheticism or decadent motifs. In horror films, he plays the role of an element close to the gothic subculture, a prominent representative of which is rock singer Marilyn Manson. Many people know addiction Marilyn Manson to absinthe. He himself often talked about the influence of this drink on his work. Manson even released Mansinthe absinthe. At $41 a bottle, the drink is 66.6 degrees ABV, which is pretty symbolic given Manson's craving for all kinds of hell. On one of the posters, a shocking showman holds a severed human ear with a hint of Van Gogh, who was distraught from absinthe.

But even horror films highlight the detrimental health effects of absinthe. So, in the Hughes Brothers film From hell"(2001) its main character - Inspector Fred Abberline ( Johnny Depp) under the influence of absinthe sees images of the victims of Jack the Ripper. And in the mystical drama of the Irish director Neil Jordan " Interview with a Vampire "(1994), based on the novel of the same name, the vampire Lestat (Tom cruise), who drank the blood "infected" with an extract of bitter wormwood, feels acute poisoning threatening his life.

It should be said that part of French society already at that time began to demonize this magical aperitif. They proclaimed that, by its nature, this drink is close to vermouth, in origin - to gin, but in spiritual content - to the devil. Some compared absinthe to Dr. Jekyll's potion and believed that the wormwood drink was " a genius for mediocrity and a killer of real geniuses».
Indeed, more and more people who used the drink showed signs of "absentism" - inappropriate behavior and temporary insanity. Some even committed suicide. The drink began to be considered a kind of ticket to a lunatic asylum, called the green curse of France. Doctors sounded the alarm, calling absinthe the main cause of alcoholism.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the entire prudent part of society took up arms against him. Entire communities of absinthe opponents were organized, holding city rallies and publishing anti-absinthe posters, which depicted the execution of the "green witch". As a healthy alternative to absinthe, the advertising poster for La Kolamarque presented Coca-Cola.
(almost like drinking cola instead of whiskey. Only here everything was serious).

But even then there were ideological defenders of absinthe. One of the ardent defenders of the cursed drink was a prominent ideologue of the occult of the XIX-XX centuries, an English poet, magician and Satanist. Aleister Crowley(1875-1947). In the twentieth century, his name became almost synonymous with magic.
Crowley devoted many of his works to the glory of absinthe. In his essay " green goddess"he justifies absinthe and says that one cannot judge it by its shortcomings and abuses of it.
« We do not curse the sea, where there are shipwrecks, and we do not forbid lumberjacks to use axes only out of sympathy for Charles I or Louis XVI. Associated with absinthe are not only special vices and dangers, but also graces and virtues that no other drink can give.«.

In Crowley's poetics, absinthe seems not at all alcoholic drink, but something like amaranth, an unfading flower symbolizing immortality. Although, as we have already seen, this is far from the case.

“What makes absinthe a special cult? So it seems as if the first inventor of absinthe was really a magician, persistently looking for a combination of sacred potions that would purify, strengthen and endow the human soul with fragrance. Undoubtedly, if you drink absinthe correctly, this is not difficult to achieve. From one portion, the breath becomes freer, the spirit becomes lighter, the heart is hot, and the soul and mind better perform those great tasks for which, perhaps, they were created by the Creator.».

But it was not possible to protect the “magic absinthe” for completely “earthly reasons”. He became a victim of his own popularity. Some manufacturers, in pursuit of profit, have begun to produce cheaper analogues of the drink, diluting it as extremely harmful to human health. blue vitriol, which was necessary to give a cheap fake a green color. The counterfeiters used low-quality alcohol with a high content of methanol and fusel oils, masking the smell with sharp-smelling herbs. Increasing poisoning made it easier for European governments to ban absinthe. It has been called the main cause of alcoholism at the turn of the century. Absinthe was first banned by Switzerland in 1907, then by France in 1915, followed by most European countries. So the rise in popularity of absinthe lasted only a decade before oblivion for a long hundred years, during which many writers remembered it with nostalgia.
For example, the Irish poet, Nobel Prize winner in literature in 1923, William Yeats, wrote in connection with the departure of absinthe: “ Then in 1900 everyone got off their stilts, and no one else drank absinthe with black coffee, no one went crazy».
And the researcher Robert Burnand generally considered the disappearance of absinthe a symptom of cultural decline:

“The spirit of the boulevards is dead. Where can you find time again to wander, dream, sharpen your mind, shoot arrows?... Absinthe, the magic absinthe of the Green Hour, the jade flower that bloomed on every terrace, deliciously poisoned the Parisians, at least giving them a rich imagination, at that time how other cocktails caused nausea without delight "

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Perhaps the spirit of absinthe in our time was evoked by the spells of nostalgic sufferers: at the beginning of the 21st century, quite unexpectedly, absinthe reappeared on the shelves of wine boutiques in Europe, albeit lightened and updated beyond recognition. Absinthe can undoubtedly be called the professional drink of intellectuals, artists and poets. In the 19th century, it was believed that absinthe was a genius for mediocrity, but death for a true genius. In the 80s of the XIX century, one word "absinthe" caused panic in many respectable Europeans, because this drink in their minds was strongly associated with madness. In France, absinthe was called "madness in a bottle", and the phrase "Absinthe drives you crazy" became the most popular slogan of anti-alcohol campaigns. When and where did absinthe originate? Why was this drink banned in France and Switzerland? "Green Fairy" or "Green Witch"? About everything and in order in today's article.

It is believed that absinthe appeared at the end of the 18th century, and was invented by Dr. Pierre Ordiner, who lived in the Swiss village of Couvet. According to legend, here he found wild wormwood and created his own special drink, which quickly gained popularity in the area. Dr. Ordiner died in 1821 - by this time the name "Green Fairy" and the glory of a tonic drink had already firmly entrenched in absinthe. Other sources believe that the Enrio sisters, who lived in the same Swiss village, were already making absinthe before the arrival of Dr. Ordiner, and that it was they who sold the recipe for this drink to a certain Major Dubier.

Be that as it may, when Major Dubier tried absinthe, he found that this drink cures indigestion, improves appetite, helps with fever and chills. Dubier was so impressed that he bought the recipe and started making absinthe too. In 1797, the major's daughter married Henri-Louis Perno, and then the Perno dynasty began, which gave its name to the brand of absinthe of the same name.


The Perno factory was a true example of efficiency and hygiene. By 1896, she was already producing 125,000 liters of absinthe a day! Everything went like clockwork, until August 11, 1901, lightning struck the factory. There was so much alcohol on the property that it took several days to put out the fire. Perhaps the fire would have been worse if one of the workers had not guessed to release huge tanks of absinthe into a nearby river. After that, its waters acquired a yellow-green color, and the smell of alcoholic vapors emanating from it resembled the breath of a drunkard and was heard for miles.

Drinking absinthe was one of the characteristic features Parisian life during the reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870) - this was a respectable bourgeois custom. The time between five and seven o'clock in the evening was called "green hour", and the smell of absinthe hung in the air over the Parisian boulevards. Absinthe was believed to improve appetite before dinner, and the strict time allowed for drinking it, to some extent, protected people from abuse.


Given the strength of absinthe (the most respected brand, Perno, contained 60% alcohol), it was customary to drink no more than one serving. It was possible to drink absinthe before dinner or even before dinner, but if someone dared to drink it all night, this caused a contemptuous reaction from the waiters. The risk of absinthe abuse increased as people began to acquire a taste for the drink. More respectable absinthe drinkers, who were ashamed to drink a lot in public, soon learned to move from one cafe to another.

Alcoholics quickly appreciated absinthe, and soon the drink began to attract a wider range of consumers: bohemians, women, and the working class. In Émile Zola's novel The Trap, we find a mention of a carpenter who "stripped naked in the Rue Saint-Martin and died dancing the polka. He drank absinthe."

Customs changed, and now women could drink absinthe in cafes, and many of the absinthe drinkers did not dilute the drink with water, which was explained by the reluctance to drink too much liquid, because they wear a corset. There are more and more posters showing emancipated women drinking absinthe and even smoking.

Paintings from the same period more often tell a completely different story - the story of emaciated women, looking unseeingly into the void over the top of a glass. Illustration: "Absinthe", Felicien Rops.

A very strong attraction almost immediately arose between absinthe, as the most powerful intellectual drink, and Parisian bohemia. Absinthe occupies a special place in the history of French painting. Illustration: Édouard Manet, Bar at the Folies Bergère.

It is sometimes said about the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec that his paintings are entirely painted with absinthe. Much is known about Toulouse-Lautrec's bitter drinking: his favorite cocktail was a mixture called the Earthquake, a deadly combination of brandy and absinthe. “You need to drink little, but often,” the artist said, and to maintain such a regime, he always took a cane with him, in which he kept a half-liter supply of absinthe and a small glass. Illustration: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, "In the Café La Mie".


“I assure you, madam, I can drink without risk. I’m almost on the floor anyway, ”Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec once said, hinting at his too small stature (a little over 150 cm). Unfortunately, unrestrained drunkenness and starving life caused the artist a lot of harm, he began to get drunk from a very small dose, as is usually the case in the last stage of alcoholism. In addition to everything, Toulouse-Lautrec began to become paranoid.


Toulouse-Lautrec saw terrible monsters, it even seemed to him that the elephant located in the courtyard of the Moulin Rouge began to follow him. And on March 1, 1899, one of the artist's friends received a letter with sad Parisian news: "You will be sad to know that Toulouse-Lautrec was put in an insane asylum yesterday." In the photo: an elephant located in the courtyard of the famous Parisian cabaret "Moulin Rouge" until 1906.


What happened to Toulouse-Lautrec was told in different ways. Someone claimed that the artist had a persecution mania on the street, someone that he was caught by orderlies and placed in a psychiatric hospital at the request of his mother. Be that as it may, after being discharged from the hospital, Toulouse-Lautrec began to drink again, at first with restraint, again resorting to the "absinthe cane", and then more and more. Illustration: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge.


And in 1887, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted a portrait of Vincent van Gogh with a glass of absinthe on the table. It is said that it was Toulouse-Lautrec who addicted Van Gogh to this drink.


Also in 1887, Vincent van Gogh created a still life depicting a glass of absinthe and a decanter of water. The psychiatric experience that the artist had to go through repeatedly forced the researchers of Van Gogh's work to enter a purely clinical sphere. Some commentators directly connected all the artist's illnesses with the fact that he abused absinthe.

In 1859, Edouard Manet painted his first large canvas, which he called "The Absinthe Drinker". With this work, his career as an artist began rather awkwardly. The sitter was his acquaintance junk dealer and alcoholic, who could often be found in the Louvre area. The artist saw in this man some strange dignity, even aristocracy. Having finished work on the picture, Manet showed it to his teacher, who reacted sharply negatively: “Absinthe lover! Why draw such abominations? My poor friend, you are the absinthe drinker. You have lost your morals." In the future, the picture continued to make an unpleasant impression on almost everyone who saw it.

The famous painting by Edgar Degas "Absinthe", first called "In a Cafe" (1876), was accepted by the public even worse than the painting by Manet. “A person who values ​​dignity and beauty will never call Absinthe a work of art,” the critic wrote. Someone even suggested that this painting depicts the poet Paul Verlaine, who was famous for leading a terrible life, soaked through and through with absinthe.

Paul Verlaine became addicted to drinking very early, and the successive deaths of his father, beloved aunt and cousin only increased his drinking: “I attacked absinthe,” he wrote. After some time, Verlaine married and seemed to come to his senses, but family happiness was soon destroyed by a catastrophe: Verlaine met the young poet Arthur Rimbaud and was captivated by him to the point of obsession, and when Rimbaud broke up with Verlaine, he shot him three times, wounding his former lover in the wrist . In the photo: Verlaine on the left, Rimbaud on the right.

Since then, Paul Verlaine has abandoned all hope of a decent life. He was even jailed for a month for threatening his mother with a knife, even though his mother demanded that he be acquitted. After this incident, Verlaine finally plunged into the life of the cafe, becoming the main celebrity of the Latin Quarter, but his poetic reputation was so strong that even the police were ordered not to disturb Verlaine, no matter what he did.


In Confession, written in 1895, Verlaine repents of his addiction to absinthe: “Absinthe! How terrible it is to think about those days and more recent times ... One sip of a disgusting witch (what a fool called her a fairy or a green muse!), One sip captivated me, but then my drunkenness led to more serious consequences. In the photo: Paul Verdun in the interior of a Parisian cafe.

In August 1905, Swiss newspapers wrote about a terrible tragedy: thirty-year-old peasant Jean Lanfre, after drinking two glasses of absinthe, shot his pregnant wife in the head, and then killed his daughters (four-year-old Rose and two-year-old Blanche). Lanfre also tried to shoot himself, but survived. Staggering, he went out into the yard, where he fell asleep, clutching the dead body of his youngest daughter in his arms. The public reaction to this tragedy was unusually violent, and it was not at all that Lanfre was an impenetrable drunkard who drank up to five liters of wine every day. People were sure that absinthe was to blame for what had happened. Illustration: "Absinthe is death."


A few weeks after the tragedy, residents of the surrounding towns and villages filed a petition in which 82,450 people demanded that absinthe be banned in Switzerland, which was already done in 1906. In France, absinthe was banned in 1915, when they thought about the national problems of alcoholism and the unpreparedness of the army for the First World War. By the way, the last significant appearance of absinthe in art, just before its ban, was the cubist sculpture of Pablo Picasso "A Glass of Absinthe" (1914).


After the ban, absinthe persisted for some time in Spain, Eastern Europe and Cuba. With the greatest nostalgia about the merits of this drink, Ernest Hemingway wrote, who at that time lived in Florida and continued to drink absinthe after the French ban, getting it from Cuba. In Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, one of the few consolations of its protagonist is absinthe, which brought back memories of the beautiful and carefree Parisian life that this American guerrilla was deprived of.

“One such mug replaced all the evening newspapers, all the evenings in Parisian cafes, all the chestnut trees, which, probably, are already in bloom ... in a word, everything that returned to him when he sipped this cloudy, bitter, chilling tongue, warming the brain and stomach life-changing potion." And further: " Better than absinthe there is nothing,” writes Ernest Hemingway in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Illustration: Jean Beraud, "In a cafe".

Absinthe revived relatively recently - in 1990, when its production was resumed in the Czech Republic and the drink was again launched on international markets under the Hill's brand.


The French and Swiss did not like the fact that at least some absinthe was revived somewhere: “It's disgusting foreign rubbish. If Baudelaire and Rimbaud had been offered this Czech drink, they would have turned over in their graves.”


One of the most ardent opponents Czech absinthe in France became Marie-Claude Delae, the chief French expert on absinthe, who in 1994 opened a museum of this drink in Auvers-sur-Oise, the place where Vincent van Gogh is buried. In 2000, with the assistance of Marie-Claude Delae, a new brand of French-style absinthe, La Fée ("Fairy"), was launched.

Inspired by the stories of famous absinthe drinkers, contemporary artists still create works dedicated to absinthe. Illustration: Elena Khotuleva, "Absinthe".

The revived "Green Fairy" once again arouses thirst and excites the imagination, as if awakening the cultural memory of the mysterious, painful and so important drink of the decadent fin-de-siècle (late 19th - early 20th century).