KUMC Highlight
Where Art and Science Converge: The Illness of Vincent van Gogh
May 12, 2006
KUMC scientist's findings reported in Science magazine
 |
| Wilfred N. Arnold, PhD |
"He was a genius in spite of his illness, not because of it," says Arnold, an authority on van Gogh. He has read word-for-word the artist’s personal letters – more than 650 that comprise three volumes – searching for signs, symptoms and lifestyle attributes related to his illness. During the last 18 years, he has visited many places where the 19th century artist lived and worked. Arnold has lectured on van Gogh in Europe, Australia and almost every state of the U.S. In 1993, he spoke at the Dutch Reformed Church in Zundert, Netherlands, van Gogh’s birthplace, and he contributed the lead essay in the catalog of a blockbuster van Gogh art exhibition in Melbourne (1993) and Brisbane (1994).
Arnold is convinced that the artist’s death at age 37, two days after a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen, was the culmination of long suffering from an inherited metabolic disease, acute intermittent porphyria (AIP). The disease affects about one in 10,000 individuals and is treatable but not curable.
In papers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1988, the British Medical Journal in 1991 and the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences in 2004, Arnold set forth his hypothesis and systematically debunked many unfounded notions such as manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, epilepsy, neurosyphilis, lead poisoning and alcoholism.
“AIP is the best working hypothesis when you look at all the signs and symptoms,” said Arnold, whose early research was done in collaboration with Loretta S. Loftus, MD, professor of oncology and hematology at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “No one else who has written about his illness has even approached the level of documentation we’ve done. And we are the only ones to have performed chemical analysis and experiments. ”
“Frequent references in van Gogh’s letters to neuropsychiatric and gastrointestinal complaints, his sensitivity to alcohol, the acute but intermittent nature of his psychotic episodes and, after a variable duration and course, his rapid return to normalcy, together with the van Gogh family history of mental illness, all supported the case for AIP, which we adopted as a working hypothesis, tested by experimentation and documented.”
On a new Internet site Arnold has adapted his previous research into two interactive medical teaching units, and he again supports his diagnosis by addressing family history and lifestyle issues, as well as the signs and dynamics of the medical crisis. The site, http://www.med.wayne.edu/elab/vangogh/MainIndex.htm, outlines in great detail the illness of van Gogh, the symptoms of AIP and the diverse precipitants that cause attacks. It has been peer-reviewed, endorsed by the Association of American Medical Colleges and is listed in MedEdPORTAL. The site, illustrated with van Gogh paintings, is designed primarily for medical student education, but may be of more general interest for readers from all walks of life.
The first case of AIP was described in a Dutch medical journal in 1889, only one year before the artist’s death. The disease was not understood in van Gogh’s time and even today it tends to be under-diagnosed, according to Arnold.
AIP is a disease centered in the liver but affecting many organs, characterized by an excessive production of porphyrin precursors which are neurotoxic and resulting in a variety of medical problems including episodes of acute mental derangement and disability, seizures, hallucinations, periods of incapacitating depression, sexual impotence, severe gastrointestinal problems and hypertension that may cause early-onset renal failure.
Arnold reports that van Gogh’s ailment was exacerbated by overwork, malnutrition and fasting, environmental exposure, excessive ingestion of alcoholic beverages, especially absinthe, smoking, use of camphor to combat insomnia and a proclivity for ingesting turpentine used in mixing his oil colors.
Absinthe, a popular 19th century beverage now banned in the United States, produces harmful neurological effects caused by a toxic chemical called thujone. Historically it has been shown to cause hallucinations and bizarre behavior. Arnold explains that the popular liqueur of its day was a contributing factor in van Gogh’s illness because patients with the underlying disease of AIP are extraordinarily sensitive to alcohol and the terpenoids of absinthe.
To learn more about Arnold and his fascination with the illness of Vincent van Gogh, visit the Web site or read his book, “Vincent van Gogh: Chemicals, Crises and Creativity,” published in English (1992) and German (1993) editions.
Email this article | View All Highlight Stories
