Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists

J. Bogousslavsky and F. Boller, eds. Switzerland: Karger; 2005, 192 pages, 35 figures, 3 tables, $99.

In a departure from the usual monographs in the clinical neurosciences, 22 authors have contributed to this interesting description of neurologic disease in famous artists (painters, musicians, writers, poets). Because all of these artists are now deceased, there are no HIPAA violations. Eighteen famous figures and their medical problems are described along with examples of their works. Included are Poe, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Kant, Van Gogh, Ravel, Handel, Haydn, Gershwin, and Schulman, among others. You can match diseases such as syphilis, Alzheimer disease, substance abuse, convulsive disorders, Lewy body dementia, postinfarction dementia/depression, bipolar disorder, brain tumor, and Pick disease with the artist and see how their creativity declined as the diseases progressed.