Françoise Minkowska-Brokman (22 January 1882 – 15 September 1950) was a French Jewish psychiatrist, born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. She was married to the psychiatrist Eugene Minkowski. Their son was the pediatrician Alexandre Minkowski. Their daughter Jeannine Pilliard-Minkowski wrote a memoir of her parents' life and work. With her husband, she fled to

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

at the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, where they trained as psychiatrists at the Burghölzli Institute directed by

Eugen Bleuler Paul Eugen Bleuler ( ; ; 30 April 1857 – 15 July 1939) was a Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist most notable for his influence on modern concepts of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including "schizophrenia", " schizoid", "a ...

. She was associated with the work of Hermann Rorschach, another of Bleuler's pupils. She studied the life of

Vincent Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

, and argued that the artist's illness was not schizophrenia, but epilepsy. She established the Centre Françoise Minkowska, a psychiatric institute for refugees and migrants.

References

External links

Association Françoise & Eugène MinkowskiFrancoise MinkowskiFrançoise Minkowska-Brokman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minkowska, Francoise French psychiatrists 19th-century Polish Jews 1882 births 1950 deaths French women psychiatrists Polish emigrants to France 20th-century French women physicians 20th-century French physicians