The Inkling Volume 2

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Van Gogh: Behind the By Zosia Senska Starry Night Perhaps you know him by his expressive brushwork; perhaps you know him by his mysterious starry night; maybe, you know the famous tale of him cutting his left ear and dispatching it to a certain young woman. Although these legends are what have made Vincent Willem van Gogh famous today, he has been deemed to be ‘the greatest Dutch painter since Rembrandt’. In fact, as an individual his work had a remarkable effect on Expressionism and Fauvism. He may not have been famous during his lifetime, but today some of Gogh’s paintings rank among the most expensive ever sold at auction! During his childhood, Gogh struggled with his identity and longed for direction. This discontentment lead to problems with his mental health. Henri Gastaut published a book in 1956 where he investigated Gogh’s life and medical history; he discovered that Gogh had in fact suffered many seizures throughout his life. This was said, by two of his French Doctors, to be caused by temporal lobe epilepsy - a major illness that affected Gogh during the final two years of his life. Gogh’s ill health was precipitated by his prolonged consumption of Thujone, a toxic chemical found in absinthe (a popular Swiss, highly alcoholic beverage). Gogh drank absinthe in order to, quite ironically, counteract his epilepsy and anxiety. Sadly, all this alcohol did was aggravate his attacks and cause his depression to become even more manic than it initially was. Van Gogh drank in the presence of an early limbic lesion - an abscess in the limbic system that means he could have potentially been an amnesiac or retarded – which, quite obviously, worsened his health further still. Dr. Gachet, another one of Van Gogh's physicians, treated his epilepsy with digitalis, which is actually mainly used for heart failure. This prescription drug can cause one to see in yellow or see yellow spots and many believe this may have been one of the reasons as to why Van Gogh adored using this colour.
As well as struggling with hectic health, Gogh experienced a rather religious upbringing (his father was a pastor) and believed his true calling to life was preaching the gospel of God. However, after a few years, Gogh discovered his passion for art; although he dedicated most of his life towards painting, he never ceased to remember his roots and beliefs. Due to his extreme enthusiasm and dedication to first religion and then art, coupled with the feverish pace of his art production, many believe that mania was a prominent condition in Van Gogh's life. Surprisingly, Van Gogh managed to sell only one of his pieces throughout his life: ‘<strong>The</strong> Red Vineyard’. In this piece, Gogh makes use of deep colours such as, reds, browns and greens - these colours symbolised misery, which suits the general strenuous atmosphere of the image perfectly as the workers in the piece don’t seem to be having such a jolly time either. Contrastingly, Gogh utilised incredibly bright colours in order to create more vibrant pieces during his moments of mania and insanity: ‘Sunflowers’ and ‘Starry Night’ are two perfect examples. However, these bright colours may not have been symbols of happiness. Gogh’s individualistic swirl of yellow, widely recognisable thanks to ‘Starry Night’ - a painting that was created whilst Gogh was in a mental asylum - was apparently influenced by lead poisoning. Van Gogh used lead-based paints, and some believe he suffered from lead poisoning from his habit of nibbling at paint chips. This is a popular theory because one of the symptoms of lead poisoning is a swelling of the retinas, which can cause one to see light as halo-like circles around objects. It was also noted by Dr. Peyron (one of the doctors who diagnosed his temporal lobe epilepsy) that during his attacks Van Gogh tried to poison himself by swallowing paint or drinking kerosene. Thus onto the subject of his death. Gogh initially tried committing suicide in a field by shooting himself in the chest. However, he missed his heart and, after being found, was aided at a hospital. <strong>The</strong> hospital wasn’t able to prevent him bleeding to death and he passed away. After the life he lived, one can only sympathise.
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