4

First serious episode.

* In 1882, Vincent entered the city hospital at Brouwersgracht (a section of The Hague, in The Netherlands) with a gonorrheal infection, for an anticipated stay of no more than 14 days. Read letter 206. However, the hospital register³ indicated that Vincent was admitted June 7 and was not discharged until July 1 (a total of 25 days).

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* To the surprise of his doctors things took a turn for the worse after about 14 days, and Vincent complained by letter on June 22, of a "dreadful weakness" and wondered "if there had been some complication that would make things worse." Read letter 208. He was moved to a new ward. The symptoms were only vaguely described and summarized as "more or less like a dream," but it extended his stay in the hospital for another 11 days. Was it a complication or a paroxysm (a sudden recurrence or intensification of primary symptoms)? What was the cause?

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* This hospitalization had a bizarre supplement. Van Gogh claimed that the attending physicians were willing to attest to his sanity (letter 206) if it were challenged again by his father. This statement is quite startling at first encounter but information taken from other letters indicates that his father had considered having him committed to an asylum in 1880 (see letter 204 and reference 1, page 36)

* The hospitalization in The Hague took place when van Gogh was 29 years old. First indications of neuroses and psychoses occurred at age 27 (according to his father's assessment). First expression of serious mental problems thus occurred late in the third decade of Vincent's life.

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Index-Unit 2

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