Absinthe Makes The Art Grow Fonder

The novelist and poet Michèle Roberts presents a history of absinthe.

Toulouse-Lautrec, Verlaine, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Oscar Wilde and Hemingway are all united by their love of this bitter-sweet aperitif.

In the late 19th century, the Green Fairy, as it became known because of its distinctive green colour, was so popular among the writers and artists of Paris, that 5 o’clock became known as the Green Hour.

The way absinthe changes from clear green to milky white, with the addition of water, became a metaphor for inspiration and artistic transformation. But the dream-like or hallucinogenic state occasionally conjured by the strong aperitif could also filter into artistic work.

Michèle meets George Rowley, an absinthe entrepreneur, who initiates her into the rituals of its consumption, as well as Marie-Claude Delahaye, of the absinthe museum in Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh lived.

Barnaby Wright of the Courtauld Institute explores the fascination of absinthe for the young Picasso. The historian Jad Adams and pataphysician Kevin Jackson explain the myths surrounding the spirit, plotting its rise, fall and recent resurgence.

• Presenter: Michèle Roberts
• Producer: Julian May

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013

Publicity contact: Radio 4 Publicity