ABSTRACT
IF VINCENT VAN GOGH'S life represents the ideal course for a serious artist, as Pablo Picasso came to believe, it is, in a different sense, prototypical of various kinds of pathology that may beset the creative person. Nor is this vantage point less illuminating than the one that focuses on van Gogh's ability to use his talents adaptively to fulfill his personal goals; it complements the latter perspective in a crucial way, throwing light not so much on Vincent's work as on his tragic personal destiny. Insofar as the artist's biography and the subjective meanings of his work are interrelated in complex ways (see M. Gedo, 1980a, 1980b, 1981) a psychobiographical approach to the life of the creator that takes into account his personal problems becomes a necessary tool of cultural history. I shall therefore proceed to review van Gogh's life from this point of view, gaining my entry point through the existing historical and psychological literature. For purposes of comparison, I have chosen Vincent's temporary partner in artistic brotherhood, Paul Gauguin, a man whose psychopathology had equally devastating effects on his adaptation.
