VISUAL ARTISTS WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE
Alexander, Henry (ca. 1860–1894)
American painter
drank carbolic acid.
Arbus, Diane (1923-1971)
American photographer
took lethal dose of barbiturates and slashed her wrists.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian (1868–1926)
English writer
overdosed on sleeping pills in Baghdad.
Bonvin, Léon (1834-1866)
French watercolorist
hanged himself from a tree, after a dealer rejected his paintings.
Borromini, Francesco (1599–1667)
Italian architect
threw himself on a ceremonial sword.
Bugatti, Rembrandt (1884-1916)
Italian sculptor
put on one of his finest suits and gassed himself.
Bupalos and Athenis (active ca. 540-ca. 537 BC)
Greek sculptors
driven to suicide by the nasty attacks of Hipponax (who apparently didn’t like their sculpture of him).
Carrington, Dora (1893–1932)
English decorative artist
shot herself a few weeks after the death of her companion, Lytton Strachey.
Cassandre, Adolphe Mouron (1901–1968)
French designer and typographer
committed suicide after the rejection of one of his designs.
Crevel, René (1900–1935)
French Dada and Surrealist poet
gassed himself the day before the Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture met in Paris.
Czigány, Dezsö (1883–1937)
Hungarian painter
committed suicide in a psychotic fit, but not before killing his family.
Daswanth (1560–1584)
Indian miniature painter
stabbed himself with a dagger.
Domínguez, Oscar (1906–1957)
Spanish painter and sculptor
slit his wrists in the bath.
Doort, Abraham van der (1575–1640)
Dutch wax-modeler
left this world despondent over the thought that he might have misplaced one of Charles I’s favorite miniatures.
Fagan, Robert (1761-1816)
English painter and archaeologist
jumped out of a window in Rome.
Frank, Jean-Michel (1895–1941)
French designer
leapt to his death in New York City after having been there for one week.
Fries, Ernst (1801–1833)
German painter and lithographer
slit his wrist.
Gagneraux, Bénigne (1756–1795)
French painter and engraver
fell out of a window in Florence.
Gerstl, Richard (1883–1908)
Austrian painter and draftsman
disemboweled himself with a butcher knife after a brief romantic fling with the wife of the composer Arnold Schoenberg.
Gertler, Mark (1891–1939)
English painter
tightly sealed up a room and turned on the gas ring.
Gorky, Arshile (1904–1948)
Armenian-born American painter
hanged himself after his studio burned, his wife had left him and he had no money.
Greco, Alberto (1915–1965)
Argentine painter and sculptor
overdosed on barbiturates, and left notes about how it felt.
Gros, Baron Jean-Antoine (1771–1835)
French painter
drowned himself in the Seine
Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786–1846)
English painter, teacher and writer
shot himself, then cut his throat.
Hébuterne, Jeanne (1898–1920)
French painter
pregnant with their second child, leapt from a window after her partner died of tuberculosis.
Johnson, Ray (1927–1995)
American collagist
committed “Rayocide” one Friday the 13th by jumping off a Sag Harbor bridge and backstroking away.
Kahlo, Frida (1907–1954)
Mexican painter
overdosed on painkillers, though the coroner’s report read, “pulmonary embolism.”
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig (1880–1938)
German painter, printmaker and sculptor
shot himself after the termination of his career by the National Socialist Party.
Kruyder, Herman (1881–1935)
Dutch painter and draftsman
committed suicide in a psychiatric hospital.
Kurzweil, Max (1867–1916)
Austrian painter and printmaker
took his life by gunshot in front of his home in Frauenkirch
Lefèvre, Robert-Jacques-François (1755–1830)
French painter
committed suicide by cutting his throat
Lehmbruck, Wilhelm (1881–1919)
German sculptor, painter and printmaker
committed suicide.
Lemoyne, François (1688–1737)
French painter and draftsman
stabbed himself with a sword.
Lo Savio, Francesco (1935–1963)
Italian painter and sculptor
committed suicide at age 28.
Lombardi, Mark (1951–2000)
American draftsman
hanged himself in his New York studio.
Malaval, Robert (1937–1980)
French painter and sculptor
shot himself in the head.
Maurer, Alfred (1868–1932)
American painter
hanged himself in the doorway of his father’s bedroom.
Mayakovsky, Vladimir (1893–1930)
Russian poet, playwright and artist
shot himself.
Mayer, Constance (1775–1821)
French painter
cut her throat with the razor of painter Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, her teacher and lover, but was not going to be her husband.
Min Yŏng-hwan (1861–1905)
Korean calligrapher and painter
was so strongly opposed to living under the Protection Treaty enforced by Japan, that he decided not to.
Minton, John (1917–1957)
English painter and illustrator
took an overdose of Tuinal.
Nero (AD 37–68)
Roman art patron and, yes, emperor
decided stabbing himself in the neck was preferable to being flogged to death.
Pascin, Jules (1885–1930)
American painter, draftsman and printmaker
hanged himself in his Paris studio, possibly depressed over the reviews of his current show.
Pellizza da Volpedo, Giuseppe (1868–1907)
Italian painter
hanged himself after the deaths of his wife and son.
Robert, Louis-Léopold (1794–1835)
Swiss painter
killed himself in Venice, in front of his easel, on the 10th anniversary of his brother’s suicide.
Rothko, Mark (1903–1970)
American painter
slit his wrists in his New York studio.
Sage, Kay (1898–1963)
American painter and poet
shot herself in the heart
Seymour, Robert (1800–1836)
English printmaker and painter
shot himself in the garden at his home in Islington.
Soares dos Reis, António (1847–1889)
Portuguese sculptor, engraver and teacher
committed suicide at age 41.
Soroka, Grigory (1823–1864)
Russian painter and draftsman
hanged himself
Staël, Nicolas de (1914–1955)
French painter
jumped out of his studio window in Antibes.
Stauffer-Bern, Karl (1857–1891)
Swiss printmaker, painter, sculptor and poet
overdosed on chloral hydrate
Tilson, Henry (1659–1695)
English painter and draftsman
shot himself through the heart with a pistol over the unrequited love of a wealthy patroness.
van Gogh, Vincent (1853–1890)
Dutch painter
died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
Vaughan, Keith (1912–1977)
English painter
chose to overdose, rather than live with bowel cancer, kidney disease and depression.
Watanabe Kazan (1793—1841)
Japanese painter
committed an honorable suicide after a run in with the Tokugawa shogunate.
Witkiewicz, Stanislaw Ignacy (1895—1939)
Polish writer, art theorist, painter and photographer
when the Second Army invaded Poland, tied himself to his lover, fed her poison, and slit his wrists.
Witte, Emanuel de (1617—1693)
Dutch painter
drowned himself, after his body was discovered in a frozen canal.
Wood, Christopher (1901—1930)
English painter
stepped in front of a train.
Xue Ji (AD 649—713)
Chinese calligrapher and scholar
forced to commit suicide after becoming embroiled in a plot to poison the new emperor.
— © Abraham Menashe