Vincent Van Gogh Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Vincent Van Gogh was widely known as the artist who cut off his ear, but not many people know about his motives behind it. As a young man, he had many psychological problems. His psychological issues escalated into an obsession for religion, which was difficult for him to cope with as well. He needed an escape and found a pastime that let him forget about the world, just for a little while. As it is well known, his pastime was his art. He channeled all of his negative emotions into his artwork to help him relieve some of the pain he was experiencing. Not all of Van Gogh’s problems were easily treatable. One of his many illnesses he suffered through was Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. This disease caused him to have many seizures in his lifetime.

Not many people are aware of this because this was a secret the young artist tried to hide. He had many paintings inspired by his religion, but he kept them in his basement, in hiding. His interest in religion soon developed into a bipolar disorder and manic depression. His extreme enthusiasm eventually spiraled into an obsession. Some days, he would learn more and more about various religions and feel happier than he’s ever been. Other days, he would refuse to be associated with any form of religion which made him severely depressed. His bipolar disorder and obsession with religion inspired many paintings that displayed various myths he’s learned to love

Van Gogh painted various self-portraits to help cope with his agony. His well-known painting “self-portrait with straw hat” represents his emotional burden weighing him down - the hat being the emotional burden (Popova). Van Gogh also had Thujone poisoning. Because of this poisoning, Van Gogh suffered from hallucinations and severe fits. Van Gogh admits that he was a heavy drinker which was the main cause of this Thujone poisoning. His doctor convinced him to stop drinking, or else his condition would worsen. He needed a distraction to prevent him from drinking. This was his inspiration to paint “at the piano in the garden”. Painting this wonderful piece was used as a distraction to avoid drinking