journal of the american medical association

Vincent van Gogh was known in the art world and among his many biographers to have suffered from violent attacks of some malady about which there has been no general agreement. After he recovered from the ear mutilation in Arles, Vincent admitted himself to the Asylum for Lunatics and Epileptics in Saint Rémy, about 20 miles from Arles. Dr. Peyron, the admitting doctor, concluded in his intake history that Vincent’s episodic attacks were epilepsy. A plethora of other diagnoses have flooded both the art history and medical literature over the ensuing years. Still, no consensus has emerged. This diagnosis of epilepsy stuck with Vincent until 1990, when I published a “Special Communication” in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that concluded that these violent attacks were attacks of inner ear vertigo. Vertigo is a key element that distinguishes between a diagnosis of an inner ear disorder known as Meniere’s disease and common forms of seizure disorders and epilepsy, or any kind of generic dizziness. This article was the cover story 100 years to the week after Vincent’s death (Arenberg, JAMA, 1990).