{"id":6334,"date":"2025-03-20T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T11:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/these-famous-dutch-people-see-it-differently\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:14:29","slug":"these-famous-dutch-people-see-it-differently","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/personal-stories\/these-famous-dutch-people-see-it-differently\/","title":{"rendered":"These famous Dutch people see it differently"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2025-03-20T12:19:00+01:00\">20 March 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Martien Meiland<br \/><\/strong>Martien Meiland (63), known from the TV show *Chateau Meiland*, has two different-colored eyes. The black spot in Martien\u2019s right eye is not congenital, but the result of an accident he had as a small child. It happened during an arts-and-crafts afternoon when he was four years old. \u201cI stabbed myself in the right eye with a pair of scissors while gluing and cutting, just like kids do. It didn\u2019t really hurt. The next morning I woke up and my whole pillow was soaking wet. The family doctor said, \u2018That\u2019s really bad. Go straight to the hospital!\u2019 The scissors had gone all the way through my eyeball. Since that accident, I haven\u2019t been able to see anything at all with my right eye. I spent a year in the hospital and had nine surgeries.\u201d        <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"991\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-991x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3831\" style=\"width:250px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-991x1024.png 991w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-290x300.png 290w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-768x793.png 768w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-1487x1536.png 1487w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-1140x1178.png 1140w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-1000x1033.png 1000w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-535x553.png 535w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-360x372.png 360w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-270x279.png 270w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-124x128.png 124w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-55x57.png 55w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien-817x844.png 817w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Martien.png 1876w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 991px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00a9 Photo: <em>instagram.com\/martien meiland\/<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We often see Martien on TV behind the wheel. Doesn\u2019t it bother him when he\u2019s driving? He spoke to the weekly magazines *Margriet* and *Weekend* about seeing with one eye: \u201cI can imagine it would be a problem if something like that happened later in life. But I\u2019ve never known anything else, and it doesn\u2019t really bother me much. I do have a blind spot on my right side, though. If someone is standing next to me on that side, I can\u2019t see them.\u201d     <\/p>\n<p>According to Martien, it\u2019s only later that many people notice he has two different eye colors. \u201cA lot of people notice it under certain lighting conditions. The other day, someone said to me, \u2018You have such beautiful eyes.\u2019 So I replied, \u2018Stick a pair of scissors in your eye, and you\u2019ll have them too!\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Antoon <\/strong><br \/>Antoon (23), the stage name of Valentijn Verkerk, is a popular Dutch singer, songwriter, and music producer. He is best known for his catchy pop songs with influences from hip-hop and electronic music. He broke through in 2021 with songs like \u201cHyperventilatie\u201d and \u201cVluchtstrook.\u201d  <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"828\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-828x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3832\" style=\"width:241px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-828x1024.png 828w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-242x300.png 242w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-768x950.png 768w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-1241x1536.png 1241w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-1655x2048.png 1655w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-1920x2376.png 1920w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-1140x1410.png 1140w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-1000x1237.png 1000w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-535x662.png 535w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-360x445.png 360w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-270x334.png 270w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-124x153.png 124w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-55x68.png 55w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/antoon-817x1011.png 817w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00a9 Photo: <em>instagram.com\/antoonpb\/<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you look at photos of Antoon as a child, he had quite a noticeable squint. He told the daily newspaper *Het Parool* last year: \u201cMaybe a little more back then than now. But I still have a squint. I\u2019m blind in my right eye\u2014I was born that way. I can\u2019t perceive depth, which is why I was never much of an athlete, but I\u2019m used to it. The reason it\u2019s not immediately obvious that I\u2019m blind in one eye is that the eye does move along with the other. But it does move more slowly and sometimes stays fixed on a single point. I have a limited field of vision, and I still bump into people from time to time.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Rembrandt van Rijn<br \/><\/strong>The painter Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606\u20131669) had a lazy eye and likely had difficulty perceiving depth as a result. This is the conclusion reached by American neurobiologists Margaret S. Livingstone and Bevil R. Conway of Harvard Medical School in Boston, after studying 36 self-portraits by the Dutch painter. In 24 of the 25 oil portraits, it is evident that the painter depicted his left eye as slightly asymmetrical. And in all 12 etchings examined, it was Rembrandt\u2019s right eye that showed an abnormality.     <\/p>\n<p>Dr. Livingstone believes that it was not the painter\u2019s left eye, but his right eye that was lazy, because he was painting his own reflection. In his etchings, his right eye appeared distorted, which can be explained by the fact that left and right are reversed during the etching printing process.   <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3833\" style=\"width:351px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-1000x1000.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-535x535.jpeg 535w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-360x360.jpeg 360w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-270x270.jpeg 270w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-124x124.jpeg 124w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-55x55.jpeg 55w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rembrandt_zelfportret-817x817.jpeg 817w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00a9 Photo: vedea.com\/nl<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the two Harvard researchers, other famous painters, such as Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci, also had vision problems that did not negatively affect their artistic performance. According to Margaret Livingstone, they may have benefited from having a lazy eye when translating three-dimensional images into two-dimensional paintings or drawings. When teaching drawing or painting, students are often asked to close one eye to see the image more clearly and render it on a flat surface. Artists who see with one eye have a natural ability to focus on the shapes of objects and the space surrounding an object\u2014often called negative space\u2014says Dr. Conway. This gives them a natural advantage in developing \u201cflat\u201d images.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can&#8217;t always tell that someone is blind in one eye. Did you know that these famous Dutch people also see or used to see with only one eye? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6335,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[113],"class_list":["post-6334","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-personal-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}