The Science of Van Gogh

The Dutch artist's sunflower paintings have attracted the attention of doctors and geneticists.

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Of all of the works by 19th-century painter Vincent Van Gogh, perhaps he’s most well known for his sunflowers. The flowers, arranged in a vase, are cast in shades of yellow and brown, simultaneously signaling life along with impending death and decay.

His use of color is legendary among students and appreciators of art, and doctors and medical researchers have used his sometimes-surreal pallet as a basis for diagnosing Van Gogh with a panoply of medical disorders. In the past decades, paper authors and letter writers in the Journal of the American Medical Association have speculated that his odd color-sense was caused by the toxic side effects of epilepsy treatment, an herb used to make absinthe, as well as a variety of eye problems, from ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Hannah Waters

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio