![Vincent van Gogh - Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) [1890] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/12065803954_b5b4f80698.jpg)
Vincent van Gogh - Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) [1890], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.
There is no agreement today over a modern diagnosis of van Gogh's illness. Suggestions include epilepsy and bipolar disorder, possibly exacerbated by excessive absinthe drinking, heavy smoking and venereal disease. Symptoms were varied, but in their most severe manifestations they involved attacks of confusion and unconsciousness followed by periods of stupor and incoherence during which he was generally unable to paint, draw, or even to write letters. It was such an attack that first led him to being hospitalised at Arles, and following a later relapse, he had himself committed to the asylum at Saint-Rémy in May 1889, where he remained for the most part until May 1890.
[Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo - Oil on canvas, 80 x 64 cm]