
Van Gogh experienced delirium from alcohol withdrawal
The artist Vincent van Gogh is likely to have experienced two episodes of delirium caused by alcohol withdrawal, new research has shown. The post-Impressionist painter, known for works such as ‘Sunflowers’ and ‘The Starry Night’, famously sliced off his left ear during an argument. Van Gogh dismissed the episode as “a simple artist’s bout of craziness” and later a “mental or nervous fever”, but research in the Netherlands has thrown new light on his mental state. Experts at the University Medical Centre Groningen conducted a psychiatric examination based on hundreds of letters he wrote – the majority to his beloved … Continue reading Van Gogh experienced delirium from alcohol withdrawal