A modern coagulation laboratory could have detected his abnormality, which is caused by genetic mutations. It could have also monitored follow-up treatment with Factor VIII cloned preparations, were it available.
Vincent van Gogh
The color yellow fascinated Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), particularly in the last years of his life. By this time, his house was entirely yellow. All his paintings from this period were dominated by the color, and he wrote, How Beautiful Yellow Is.
Van Gogh's preference for the color may have stemmed simply from an individual preference for it. According to Wolf, there is another possible explanation: the artist's use of digitalis and ingestion of the liqueur absinthe.
Van Gogh suffered from epilepsy, for which he was treated with digitalis, as was often the case in the late 19th century. Digitalis is effective in heart failure; however, Parkinson suggested it as a treatment for epilepsy.
Since that time, researchers have discovered that significant retinal dysfunction occurs when high levels of the medication are consumed. Today, physicians are likely to diagnose a case of digoxin toxicity if a patient reports "yellow vision," also known as xanthopsia.
Van Gogh's fondness for yellow may also have been due to his excessive ingestion of absinthe. The drink contains the chemical thujone. Distilled from plants such as wormwood, thujone poisons the nervous system. The chemical effects of digitalis and thujone, which results in yellow vision, are now known. A modern clinical chemistry laboratory would have identified h
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16-Nov-2005