David Bowie’s Hypnotic Gaze

Thursday, January 14 2016 | 00 h 00 min | News

A great artist has left us recently when David Bowie passed away from cancer. His music made its mark on the world, but his personality and his eyes were also striking.

David Bowie seemed indeed to have one blue eye and one black. A misleading appearance, caused by a condition called anisocoria, defined by a difference in size between the two pupils. Far from being natural, this condition is the result of a scuffle between teenagers David Bowie and a friend, who coveted the same girl.

A punch reached the eye, a ring scratching the surface and paralyzing the muscles that constrict the iris. The pupil in this eye is dilated and remained so continuously thereafter, causing the famous “black eye.”

That did not stop the thrower of the punch, George Underwood, to remain Bowie’s closest friend and even went on to design the covers of famous Bowie albums Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

For more information: http://theconversation.com/the-remarkable-story-behind-david-bowies- most-iconic-feature-52920