Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Vincent Van Gogh

  • From silks to science: The history of hematoxylin and eosin staining

    Vidhi NaikAberdeen, Scotland Introduction Hematoxylin and eosin, dyes used to stain tissue samples, collectively known as H&E, form the benchmark for histological stains. These dyes possess a profound and alluring history, which includes stories of the fabric industry, pirates, fine art, and eventually histology. The development of hematoxylin The origins of hematoxylin can be traced…

  • The Portrait of Doctor Gachet

    Nicholas KangAuckland, New Zealand On a spring evening in New York, a portrait is unveiled before a crowded auction room. It pictures an older man wearing a dark blue coat with luminous green buttons. His elbow rests on a red table beside two yellow books. In front of him is a glass with faded purple…

  • The Potato Eaters: Brushstrokes of sickness and sustenance

    Jeanne DsouzaManipal, India One wants to be an honest man, one is so, one works as hard as a slave but still one cannot make both ends meet . . . One is afraid of making friends, one is afraid of moving, like one of the old lepers . . .– Vincent Van Gogh, Autumn…

  • Absinthe: The green fairy

    Nicolás Roberto RoblesBadajoz, Spain “After the first glass of absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second you see them as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”-Oscar Wilde Absinthe is a spirit with very high alcohol…

  • Mental illness in art

    JMS PearceHull, England It is often said that creative art is linked to eccentricity, sometimes bordering on madness. Examples abound of great musicians, writers, and artists who at some time in their lives were deranged and often committed to institutions for mental illness. Some ended their lives in suicide. To what extent is art inspired…

  • Food colors: a history of food in art and literature

    Sayantu BasuKolkata, West Bengal, India “Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.” This is how Voltaire upholds the significance of food in human existence and in a way summarizes man’s dependence on his daily source of energy. Food has always…

  • Letters from the asylum

    Nicholas KangAuckland, New Zealand After cutting off his ear, Vincent van Gogh spent a year in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence confined to a mental asylum. Despite several major relapses during his stay, he continued to work prolifically, completing more than 140 paintings including masterpieces such as Starry Night, Irises, and Almond Blossom. Three months after leaving, he was…

  • Hawthorne’s The Birthmark: A failure to find a perfect future in an imperfect present

    Sylvia KarasuNew York City, New York, United States In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark, 1 Aylmer, “a man of science” leaves the somber, factory-like atmosphere of his laboratory to marry the beautiful Georgiana.  Aylmer “had devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific studies ever to be weaned from them by any secondary passion,” and seems to…

  • The peach tree

    Roy SmytheTemple, Texas, United States In the hot Texas summer of my 77th year, my skin turned a little yella’, and I lost some weight. Doc Butler, who I’d been seein’ for ‘bout 30 years now, told me to go to the “cancer center” in the city. I didn’t want to go, but hell, he…