NATION : Van Gogh Suicide Tied to Vertigo

CHICAGO —  Vincent Van Gogh was neither a lunatic nor an epileptic but suffered from a common inner ear disorder that led the artist to cut off his ear and eventually kill himself, medical experts said in a report published today.

They said the Dutch painter, who committed suicide 100 years ago this month at the age of 37, had Meniere’s syndrome, characterized by a painful ringing or buzzing in the ear and vertigo--attacks of disabling dizziness.

The report from the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo., was based on an examination of medical records and Van Gogh’s letters and was published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Assn.

An examination of 796 of Van Gogh’s personal letters “reveals a man constantly in control of his reason and suffering from severe repeated attacks of disabling vertigo, not a seizure disorder,” the study said.