[Implication of lead poisoning in psychopathology of Vincent van Gogh].

Abstract

The authors, by means of documental research, study the possibility that the physical and psychic symptoms of Vincent van Gogh may have been due to chronic lead poisoning. The technique and materials used by Van Gogh are analysed as the cause of repeated exposure to lead as well as the possible means of penetration of the metal. Through historical-biographical analysis, the progressive symptoms of the illness are compared with those of lead poisoning. The authors conclude that the excessive and continuous use by Van Gogh of pigments which were highly toxic due to their high lead content, such as white lead (lead carbonate) and yellow chrome (lead chromium), could have penetrated his organism by digestive system (primarily) in minimal daily amounts, giving rise to a clinical condition of chronic lead poisoning. This type of poisoning coincides with the clinical symptoms Van Gogh describes in his autographed letters: initial debilitation, stomatitis with loss of teeth, recurring abdominal pains, anaemia (with a "plumbic" skin tone), neuropathy of the radial and saturnine encephalopathy including epileptic crises, progressive character changes and periods of delirium. The clinical symptoms shown by Van Gogh meet present criteria for diagnosis of Organic Mental Disorder due to cerebral lesion or somatic illness (F.06; CIE-10) (DSM-IV-R), and Organic Character Disorder (F.07; CIE-10) (DSM-IV-R).