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Surgery 459 Myth Or Reality in “Starry Night” (1889). Did Med. Surg. J. – Rev. Med. Chir. Soc. Med. Nat., Iaşi – 2019 – vol. 123, no. 3 SURGERY REVIEWS MYTH OR REALITY IN “STARRY NIGHT” (1889). DID VINCENT VAN GOGH PAINT HIS MORBUS LOCI ? WHIRLPOOL GALAXY, HIPPOCAMPAL FORMATION OR JUST A PAINTBRUSH MOVE ? R. Onciul1, A. Mohan2*,V. Săceleanu3, A. Marinescu4, A. V. Ciurea5,6 1. Emergency Clinical Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Bucuresti 2. County Emergency Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Oradea 3. County Emergency Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Sibiu 4. 5th year student, “Carol Davila” U.M.P. Bucuresti 5. “Sanador” Hospital, Neurosurgery Department, Bucuresti 6.“Carol Davila” U.M.P. Bucuresti, Neurosurgery Department *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] MYTH OR REALITY IN “STARRY NIGHT” (1889). DID VINCENT VAN GOGH PAINT HIS MORBUS LOCI ? WHIRLPOOL GALAXY, HIPPOCAMPAL FORMATION OR JUST A PAINTBRUSH MOVE ? (Abstract): Vincent Van Gogh’s entire career has been marked by a variety of colors, which have undergone numerous changes: from gray to vivid colors. This is due to the multiple affections that the author acquires over the course of his life and the treatments adjacent to his affections. A special feature of his artistic life is tripartite noc- turnal series during the time the artist was admitted to the Saint Paul Asylum. Nowadays this series of paintings are known around the world and listed at exorbitant prices. Much of the paintings made by the artist in the second half of his life have a common element about a representative geometric model, a brush motion. Long after the artist's death, art critics, doc- tors and ordinary viewers have associated this geometric model with the anatomy of the hip- pocampus. The previous idea was recently exposed by a group of authors in the article: Neu- roanatomic Interpretation of the Painting Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. Our opinion af- ter lengthy analyzes of the artist’s biography is that he did not have neuroanatomic knowledge and therefore the theory that Vincent Van Gogh painted his morbus loci cannot be sustained. A more likely explanation is that this brush movement (amplified by the pa- thology suffered by the painter) perfectly corresponds to astronomical elements discovered at that time, Whirlpool Galaxy described and drawn first by Sir William Parsons, 3 rd Earl of Rosse (1800-1867) in 1845. Conclusions: The details given by Van Gogh in the sky of Saint Remy are his visions as a painter and are unrelated to the anatomical structure of the hippo- campus. Keywords: VAN GOGH, TRIPARTITE NOCTURNE SERIES, STARRY NIGHT, HIPPOCAMPUS, TEMPORAL LOBE, EPILEPSY, WHIRPOOL GALAXY. Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter left by the brush and the emotional effect of post-Impressionist style. His works have that catches the viewer. deeply influenced the art of the nineteenth The artist was born March 30, 1853 in century. A mark of his works is the vivid Groot-Zundert, in the south of Holland. colors, the wrinkling character of the traces A key moment in his artistic career was 459 R. Onciul et al. the encounter with the French Impression- ists in 1886 when he moved to Paris and then to the town of Arles. During this peri- od, he met his friend and collaborator painter, Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), who was to be involved in the enigmatic inci- dent in which Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear because of mental illness. After this incident, Vincent Van Gogh was admitted to Saint-Remy-de-Provence Hospital for one year, until 1889. Van Gogh has made over 2,000 works of art, around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. He was little appre- Fig 1. Café Table with Absinthe. ciated during his life, his fame grew in the Vincent van Gogh, Paris, February-March years after his death. Today the artist is 1887. Oil on canvas, 46.3 cm x 33.2 cm. considered to be one of the most important Image © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam painters in history. (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Career and artistic masterpiece Arles (1888-1889) His career can be divided into 4 stages: At the Yellow House in Arles, van Paris (1886-1888), Arles (1888-1889), Gogh hoped like-minded artists could cre- Hospital in Arles (December 1888) and the ate together. Gauguin did join him but with most interesting: Saint Paul Asylum (1888- disastrous results. Van Gogh’s nervous 1889). temperament made him a difficult compan- In the first period of the artist's life he ion and night-long discussions combined was focused on portraits and surrounding with painting all day undermined his health landscapes, the canvas created by him hav- (fig. 2). ing a darker tone than the rest of his paint- ings. Paris (1886-1888) In 1886, he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil’s gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin. Having met the new Impres- sionist painters, he tried to imitate their techniques; he began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brush strokes of the Impressionists’ style. Unable Fig. 2. The Yellow House. to successfully copy the style, he developed Vincent van Gogh. Oil on canvas, Arles: his own more bold and unconventional September 1888. Van Gogh Museum style (fig. 1). Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Europe 460 Myth or reality in “Starry Night” (1889). Did Vincent van Gogh paint his morbus loci ? Whirlpool galaxy, hippocampal formation or just a paintbrush move ? After the key point of his move to Paris, tions that influenced both his life and his Van Gogh had a prolific artistic boom: he works. He suffered from syphilis (1882) completed 200 paintings and more than 100 and during periods of acute mental pressure drawings and watercolors. He was enchant- he had epileptic seizures (the artist was ed by the local landscape and light; his suffering from a disease unknown at that works from this period are rich in yellow, time, temporal lobe epilepsy) (2). ultramarine and mauve. His paintings in- While in Paris, he began to suffer from clude harvests, wheat fields and general minor paroxysms consisting of episodes of rural landmarks from the area, including sudden terror, peculiar epigastric sensations, The Old Mill (1888), a picturesque struc- and lapses of consciousness. Observers ture bordering the wheat fields. reported occasions of an initial tonic spasm Hospital in Arles (December 1888) of the hand and a peculiar stare, followed by The exact sequence of events which led a confusional-amnestic phase. His use of to Van Gogh's mutilation of his ear is not absinthe, an alcoholic beverage with convul- known. sant properties favored by French artists, After the altercation with Paul Gauguin, appears to have played a crucial role in the Van Gogh returned to his room, where he precipitation of van Gogh’s illness (3). was assaulted by voices and severed his left Shortly after leaving Paris, the painter ear with a razor, causing severe bleeding. wrote to his brother: Van Gogh was found unconscious the “I was surely about to suffer a stroke next morning by a policeman and taken to when I left Paris. It affected me quite a bit hospital. Van Gogh had no recollection of when I had stopped drinking and smoking the event, suggesting that he may have so much, and as I began to think instead of suffered an acute mental breakdown. knocking the thoughts from my head. Good Saint Paul Asylum (1888-1889) heavens, what despair and how much fa- In the Saint Paul Asylum, the artist made tigue I felt at that time” a tripartite nocturne series of paintings con- He explains to his brother how he can sisting of Café Terrace at Night (September resist periods of acute emotional stress, 1888), then Starry Night Over the Rhône later throwing himself in work altogether and that same month and last The Starry Night. consuming large amounts of alcohol: “If The artist considered The Starry Night the storm within gets too loud, I take a which one day would rank among his most glass more to stun myself” (4). famous works, to be a failure, according to Because Van Gogh used lead-based what he wrote to his brother. Starry Night paints there are some who believe he suf- depicts a dreamy interpretation of the fered from lead poisoning from nibbling at artist's asylum room's sweeping view of paint chips. It was also noted by Dr. Peyron Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It offers a rare that during his attacks Van Gogh tried to nighttime glimpse into what the artist saw poison himself by swallowing paint or while in isolation (1). drinking kerosene. One of the symptoms of lead poisoning is swelling of the retinas Disease and affliction which can cause one to see light in circles Vincent Van Gogh suffered from sever- like halos around objects. This can be seen al diseases, especially psychiatric condi- in paintings like The Starry Night. 461 R. Onciul et al. Hypergraphia is a condition causing one to need to write continuously; this disorder is commonly linked to mania and epilepsy. Some believe that the massive collection of over 800 letters Van Gogh wrote during his lifetime could be attribut- ed to this condition (5, 6) The tumultuous life of the genius ended abruptly and too early. Vincent Van Gogh shot himself in a wheat field in Auvers, France but did not die until 2 days later at the age of 37 years old. Fig. 3. The Starry Night Vincent van Gogh. An analysis of van Gogh’s illness and Saint Rémy, June 1889.
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