The Hague: Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh was possibly bipolar or had a borderline personality, but a combination of factors likely drove him to cut off his ear and commit suicide, a researcher said.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to draw a final conclusion about his illness,” said Louis van Tilborgh, a senior researcher at Amsterdam’s renowned Van Gogh Museum.
Van Tilborgh this week led a two-day panel discussion with researchers and medical experts – particularly psychiatrists – on the fringes of the museum’s latest exhibition called “On the Verge of Insanity” which delves into the Dutch master’s mental state.
The panel aimed to find some modern medical explanations for the mental illness which ended with Van Gogh’s suicide on July 27, 1890 at Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris at the age of 37.
It was more likely a combination of factors that set off a psychosis: His excessive drinking and bad eating habits; and his deteriorating relationship with the post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin, whom Van Gogh adored.
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