LAUSR

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) Perhaps the most talented and tragic of the lot, van Gogh, attained recognition posthumously having sold only a single painting in his lifetime. Nonetheless, his art is a reflection of the beauty and turmoil that lay within one of the most misunderstood artists of his time. The Sunflowers, 1888–1889, a set of five paintings that Vincent envisioned and drew have fascinated connoisseurs and even lay persons for years [Fig. 1]. A stark contrast from the large, blooming blossoms that one associates with sunflowers, van Gogh drew them in a more subdued form. He found the beauty in the drying or budding flowers. But what stands out to anybody who lays eyes on them is the color yellow! The yellow color also dominates many of his Self Portraits, The Bedroom, and The Yellow House. Historians and scholars have suggested that van Gogh was suffering from a condition known as xanthopsia, which results in the person seeing yellow. Walsh and Hoyt list 13 chemicals that can result in xanthopsia.[1] A possible cause could be that he was being treated for his manic depressive state by digitalis. One can see the foxglove plant in the painting of Dr. Gachet, Portrait of Doctor Gachet, 1890.[2] Prolonged and toxic doses of digitalis are known to produce xanthopsia.[3] Additionally, the consumption of absinthe, a popular liquor in France in that period, could have also resulted in his xanthopsia.[1,3] Santonin, a drug used to treat gastrointestinal disturbances, which the artist was known to suffer from, could also be the drug responsible for his xanthopsia.[1,4]