Pollack was an influential American painter, and the leading force behind the abstract expressionist movement in the art world. He is known for his drip-painting style. He had a tough upbringing, moving constantly, and then abandoned by his abusive, alcoholic father. He struggled with alcoholism throughout his life and died in a single-car crash as a result of driving under the influence. Some speculate it was suicide.

Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal and confessional verse. She was diagnosed with postpartum depression after the birth of her first child. She suffered many breakdowns and spent time repeatedly in a neuropsychiatric hospital. After she attempted suicide, her doctor recommended she pursue her interest in writing poetry. Years later after winning the pulitzer prize for poetry she committed suicide. She was 46.

Picasso was one of the most influential and greatest artists of the 20th century. He is the creator of Cubism. Lonely and deeply depressed over the death of his close friend he painted scenes of poverty, isolation and anguish, almost exclusively in shades of blue and green

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Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry. She is best known for her novel The Bell Jar. Throughout her life she suffered from depression and attempted suicide numerous times. She also struggled with insomnia, constant agitation, and an inability to cope with daily life. She died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to sticking her head in an oven. She was 30 years old.

Mark Rothko was an American painter of Russian descent. He is one of the most famous postwar abstract expressionist painters. According to Rothko his pro-Marxist father was "violently anti-religious". Rothko went straight to work at a very young age and was forever bitter over his lost childhood. Throughout his career he smoked regularly and drank heavily. Later in life he developed a mild aortic aneurysm, but continued his bad habits. He was thin, restless, and highly nervous. At 66, he slit his wrists and overdosed on antidepressants. 

Meryon was a French artist who worked almost entirely in etching. He was the most significant etcher of 19th century France. He was color blind and suffered from severe mental illness. He spent the last years of his short life in an asylum.

Referred to as the "father of modern art", Goya was the last of the Old Masters and the first of the Moderns. He was a Spanish artists known for his portraits. Due to unknown causes he became deaf. He also suffered from depression, headaches, dizziness, hallucinations, delirium, and paresis in one arm. Many of his ailments were due to the poison in his paints.

Vincent van Gogh is considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. He struggled with mental illness and poverty throughout his life. He is known to have sipped on turpentine and eaten paint. He experienced countless mental breakdowns and confrontations. Later in life he spent his money on paint rather than food. He lived on coffee, bread and absinthe. He died at 37 due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Munch was a Norwegian painter and printmaker. He greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th century. He is best known for his iconic pre-Expressionist painting The Scream. At a young age his mother and sister died. His brother dies soon after and his only remaining sibling was institutionalized for mental illness. He was very melancholy throughout his life and suffered from mental distress. He coped by drinking excessively. At 37, he started hearing voices and suffered paralysis on one side. He eventually collapsed and checked into a sanitarium. after his recovery he lived in isolation and almost died of influenza. His later works depict his deteriorating condition. 

David Foster Wallace was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and an English professor. Wallace struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, depression, suicide attempts, institutionalization, and at times inappropriate sexual behavior. He was reported to have slept with some of his female students while teaching at university and sometimes exhibited stalking-like obsessive behavior when enamored of a woman.

O'Keefe was an American Artists famous for her paintings of enlarged flowers and southeastern landscapes. She is referred to as the "Mother of American Modernism". She experienced depression and was hospitalized after discovering her husband had a mistress. a few years later she was hospitalized for two months due to a nervous breakdown. Later in life she suffered from macular degeneration and began to lose her eyesight, yet continued to paint.