Claude Monet, born 1840, just one year before Renoir, was diagnosed with cataracts in 1912. He endured their growth & his gradual loss of sight for ten years. His paintings became larger & showed much greater contrast between tones & between colours. In 1923, almost blind, he submitted to the surgical procedure, still dangerous, of unsure outcome & very painful then. After three days of complete imobilisation the bandages were removed & he quickly regained the subtle eye for tone & colour transition he was famous for.

The painting to the right under the image of Monet himself & the first painting of water lilies, were executed during the cataract phase. The painting of the poppy field beneath this text was painted when he was a young man & beneath the 'cataract' Lilies another painted pre-cataracts.

Degas, more famous for his pastels than oils, only switched to them when his eyes became too weak to mix colours on the pallette (as opposed to mixing them on the canvas, paper or board as one does with pastels). His condition was not operable, just the effects of old age.