What condition did Vincent Van Gogh suffer from?

Posted On December 8, 2024December 8, 2024

Vincent Van Gogh needs no introduction when it comes to discussing art history. Hailed as one of the field’s geniuses within the Western landscape, his works are still as generously revered by critics and the public alike to this day, now variously being brought to life for modern audiences through a series of interactive experiences and exhibitions charting not only the history of his pieces and materials but the personal backstory of the man behind them as well.

The post-impressionist oil painter is, of course, mostly famed for iconic works such as The Starry Night, but as has become more relatively recently apparent, there were a series of deeply tragic episodes littered throughout Van Gogh’s life that played a seismic role in the depiction and timing of his art, culminating in the majority of his body of work being produced in the two years prior to his death, aged 37, in 1890. Although elements of this have become more culturally relevant in terms of songs like ‘Vincent’ by Don McLean, not a lot is widely acknowledged for its stark reality.

Most people, even if they know little else about the artist, would be able to tell you the story of Van Gogh cutting his left ear off, depicted in 1889’s Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear, but given that he took his own life merely a year later, there seemed to be a lot more pain brewing beneath the surface.

The trouble is, given the historical lack of knowledge towards mental health problems compared to the complex discourse we have surrounding it today, it is very difficult to know which exact conditions Van Gogh was suffering from, nor is it particularly helpful in the current context to wildly speculate.

So, what did Van Gogh suffer from?

From what information we do have, however, there were a number of potential factors at play. In the intervening time since his death, the medical literature has offered various suggestions as to physical health conditions that could have caused Van Gogh’s mental deterioration, including syphilis, dementia, and alcoholism, to name a few. Presumably, within more recent discourse, there are also some seemingly more accurate indications, such as schizophrenia and a borderline personality disorder, but these can never be definitively determined as the artist’s only official diagnosis within his lifetime was of epilepsy.

Regardless of which specific conditions Van Gogh may or may not have suffered from, it is clear that his mental health had a striking impact on his life and work in some capacity. He claimed after the ear incident that he had been experiencing hallucinations and had no memory of the event, pointing to a complex and ultimately precarious psychological state which was tragically conducive to the circumstances of his premature death.

Although Van Gogh lived a short and devastatingly painful life, it is a testament to the power of his work that his legacy will never die. Approaching almost a century and a half since many of his paintings were created, they still proudly adorn the walls of many of the world’s most esteemed galleries as headline attractions; such is the beauty and intricacy of his work fundamental to understanding the history of art as a whole. Moreover, as our contemporary vision increasingly allows us, it is also important to acknowledge what lay behind such majestic art – ultimately a vulnerable human, which whether you are creatively minded or not, is a condition everyone can relate to.

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