A grim look at the work of a doctor whose only true claim to fame was the patient he couldn’t help

Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace follows the story of Dr Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, the French physician who treated Vincent Van Gogh.

There are two theories one may draw from this story as we follow Dr Gachet, his early life, his association with Van Gogh and its results, and the unfortunately aftermath:
1) Was it even possible to save Van Gogh from his troubles?
2) Was Dr Gachet even good at his job?

Dr Gachet considered himself an artist, but I’d argue he was only an artist because he thought he was one…and he treated and knew other artists so he clearly felt he was just as qualified as them.

Would someone who felt themselves a medical professional…who got to know Dr Gachet…be qualified to claim to be a doctor?

Was Dr Gachet even a talented doctor or only followed the profession because he was a terrible artist?

I have a low level of option for Gachet and feel he took up treatment of Van Gogh in an effort to help himself…and might have done more harm than good.

The novel is fairly dry and didn’t do anything to improve my negative opinion of Gachet. It also didn’t do much to add to my knowledge of Van Gogh (outside of significant attention paid to Gachet’s background.

Not as interesting as I hoped…