Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh's fame reached its first peak in Austria and Germany before World War I, helped by the publication of his letters in three volumes in 1914. His letters are expressive and literate, and have been described as among the foremost 19th-century writings of their kind. These began a compelling mythology of Van Gogh as an intense and dedicated painter who suffered for his art and died young. In 1934, the novelist Irving Stone wrote a biographical novel of Van Gogh's life titled "Lust for Life", based on Van Gogh's letters to Theo. This novel and the 1956 film further
Health of Vincent van Gogh poisoning from his consumption of absinthe. Arnold has suggested the association between bipolar disorder and creativity is a popular one, and may be spurious in Van Gogh's case. Van Gogh is believed to have had borderline personality disorder; he "displayed symptoms best consistent with a borderline (personality) disorder: impulsivity, variable moods, self-destructive behaviour, fear of abandonment, an unbalanced self-image, authority conflicts and other complicated relationships." The most thorough argument is made by psychiatrist Erwin van Meekeren in his book "Starry Starry Night: Life and Psychiatric History of Vincent van Gogh". Van Meekeren proposes borderline personality disorder as the most likely