THE ARTFUL HEALER : 'Cezanne to van Gogh: The Collection of Dr. Gachet'.

At the center of "Cezanne to van Gogh: The Collection of Dr. Gachet," on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until August 15, is the relationship between the homeopathic physician Dr. Paul Gachet (1828-1909) and the brilliant, short-lived painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-90). The story begins with the elder of the pair whose willingness to accept paintings in lieu of money for his medical services, coupled with his sincere appreciation for the most advanced art of his time, gave him a certain renown in the artistic circles within which both Vincent and his brother Theo traveled. Gachet had settled in Auvers-sur-Oise in 1872, a small village north of Paris made attractive to a number of artists with the arrival of the landscape painter, Charles Daubigny. The impressionist painter Camille Pissarro and his family moved to nearby Pontoise in the summer of 1872, followed soon after by Pissarro's young protege, Paul Cezanne. Pissarro had known Gachet since 1871 and had called on him from time to time to treat members of his family. An amateur artist, Gachet exhibited some of his own work under the pseudonym, Paul van Ryssel. His home in Auvers was a gathering place for artists where still lifes were set up and painted, etchings were produced in the attic studio, and painting excursions were planned. Gachet built a collection of paintings, prints, sketches, artifacts, and souvenirs given to him by his patients, friends, and colleagues.

In December of 1888, van Gogh was in Arles painting at breakneck speed and producing some of his most accomplished works. Without warning, he suffered the first in a series of unexplained and violent seizures. Subsequently, it was impossible for him to live without medical supervision. Hospitalized after cutting off part of his ear, he was released, then readmitted after the local population petitioned to have him incarcerated. To avoid the police, van Gogh voluntarily placed himself in the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Remy-de- Provence where he continued to suffer from periodic incapacitating fits. It was here that his disease was finally diagnosed as epilepsy. Shut off from family (most significantly his brother Theo, whose emotional and financial support was critical for Vincent's survival) and friends, the painter was desperate to leave the south of France. His brother worried about Vincent's condition and his own ability to manage a future crisis, so Theo proposed that van Gogh stay in Auvers under the care of Dr. Gachet. On May 20, 1890 the artist arrived in Auvers, met the doctor, and took up temporary lodgings in a nearby inn. In a letter to Theo written that day, Vincent describes the doctor as "being rather eccentric," adding that "his experience as a doctor must keep him balanced enough to combat the nervous trouble from which he certainly seems to be suffering at least as seriously as I." Gachet's interventions failed. On July 28, 1890 van Gogh shot himself in the chest. Walking back to his room he called the doctor to his deathbed. According to letters that were written later by friends of van Gogh, the painter refused all attempts to save his life.

Gachet, whose collection is the starting point for the Metropolitan exhibition, was himself immortalized in two paintings and an etching by van Gogh, all three produced in the last weeks of the painter's life. The larger of the two paintings was taken to Paris by Theo after his brother's suicide. It is a masterly portrait, recently made spectacularly famous by fetching the unprecedented sum of $82.5 million when it was sold at auction in New York in 1990 (sadly, its current whereabouts is unknown). The copy that van Gogh made and gave to Dr. Gachet was enshrined in the Gachets' home in Auvers until 1949 when it was given to the French national museums by Gachet's son and daughter. It differs from what is presumed to be the first portrait in that it does not include the books stacked on the table on which Gachet leans. The portrait is one of several sublime paintings by van Gogh once owned by Gachet and brought together by the exhibition organizers. Also on view is van Gogh's infinitely sad, perfectly transcendent Self-portrait (given by Gachet's children to the Musee du Louvre in 1949), and the breathtakingly beautiful Church at Auvers, done in 1890. There are also important paintings by Cezanne, Pissarro, Monet, and Renoir (all given to the French national museums by Dr. Gachet's son Paul between 1951 and 1954).

The suspicions about the doctor's abilities that Vincent raised in his letters to his family, the odd secrecy with which the Gachets shrouded the collection, and the copies of van Gogh's work produced by Gachet, his son, and other amateur artists in their circle have long fueled speculation about the doctor's role in the artist's suicide. The family's financial motives, and the authenticity of a number of paintings in the collection, most notably the Portrait of Dr. Gachet now in the collection of the Musee d'Orsay, have also been questioned. These controversies have mostly been put to rest, but this exhibition and the book that accompanies it resolve any lingering doubts on these scores. The final room in the exhibition suggests the shrine to van Gogh and Dr. Gachet that the Gachet residence became after the death of the doctor. Alongside souvenirs of Vincent van Gogh that decorated the home in Auvers are hung a series of portraits done by Dr. Gachet at van Gogh's deathbed. I imagine that van Gogh knew his fate when he stepped off the train in Auvers. What surprises me is that Gachet recognized the painter of genius for who he was.

Donna Gustafson is chief curator of exhibitions for the American Federation of Arts.