Who was the physician who treated Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise?

Paul Gachet was the physician who treated Vincent van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise. Gachet began caring for Van Gogh after the artist left the asylum at Saint-Rémy in May 1890 and moved to Auvers, a village north of Paris.

Van Gogh’s brother Theo believed Gachet’s experience with artists and his sympathetic temperament made him a suitable doctor. Gachet was also an amateur painter and a supporter of the Impressionists, with friendships or connections to artists including Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The relationship was complicated. Van Gogh initially doubted Gachet’s usefulness, describing him as troubled himself, but later called him a friend and almost a brother. Gachet also sat for two important 1890 portraits by Van Gogh. Common mix-ups include confusing him with doctors who treated Van Gogh earlier, such as Félix Rey in Arles and Théophile Peyron at the Saint-Rémy asylum.