Found: The Clue To Van Gogh’s Ear

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article6968527.ece ^ | December 26th 2009

[Steelfish]

Found: The Clue To Van Gogh’s Ear

Richard Brooks

[Pic in URL] Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889 by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) The mystery behind the most famous mutilation in art history may finally have been solved. A scholar has found evidence that a distraught Vincent van Gogh slashed his ear after learning that his brother, Theo, on whom he depended financially and emotionally, was about to get married.

Martin Bailey, who has written a book on van Gogh and curated two exhibitions of his work, devised his theory after meticulous detective work on a letter in a painting that the artist completed soon after he injured himself.

Bailey concludes that this letter was written by Theo from Paris in December 1888 and contained news of his engagement. This, he believes, tipped Vincent, who was already psychologically disturbed, into self-harm. Vincent van Gogh’s letters show the soul of the artist “Vincent was fearful that he might lose his brother’s emotional and financial support,” writes Bailey in the January edition of The Art Newspaper.

For years disputes have raged over what really happened to van Gogh’s ear just before Christmas 1888. Some have blamed his mental illness, others have said he was driven mad by lead in his paints. The breakdown of his friendship with Paul Gauguin, his fellow artist, has also been cited, although it is claimed that Gauguin made up this story himself.

Academics at Hamburg University argued recently that Gauguin, with whom van Gogh shared a house at Arles in the south of France, cut the ear in a quarrel over a prostitute called Rachel.

(snip)

Van Gogh gave ample evidence of his mental instability when, 19 months after the ear was cut, he shot himself in the chest and died from his wounds two days later.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We all suffer for our art, whatever it may be. *SHRUG*

[AlexW]

Some years ago, while members of an Art Museum in Memphis, my very artistic wife dressed us up for an annual party.
She painted a dress that looked like “Starry Night”, and I went dressed as Van Gough, complete with a head bandage over a bloody ear.
A color photo of us wound up in the local paper.

Since then, I have been to the Van Gough museum in Amsterdam
a few times...well worth the visit, if your ever there.

[Nateman]

His last painting.

[JoeProBono]

[Steelfish]

I do have a mug like this except it has the “Sunflowers” imprint.

[cripplecreek]

I’m pretty sure I didn’t have anything to do with it.

[ColdOne]

Tinnitus.

[goat granny]

I watch this show on one of the cable channels about real ER emergency's...This week one guy walked in to ER with an ice pick sticking out of his ear....He was walking and talking and finally told the doctor that he stuck the ice pick in his ear himself to stop all the voices in his head but didn't want to take it out at home as then the demons would be loose in his house so he went the the emergency room...the xrays were astonishing....of course after removing the ice pick, he was turned over to the psych unit....They get some weird things that go to emergency room. Several had parasites that they could feel moving under their skin. (bot fly larve) huge maggots.

[Beowulf9]

Van Gogh might say to you “Nobody has a mug like mine”....but then again maybe he wouldn’t have heard you.

[supremedoctrine]

Mike TySijn

[floridavoter2]

I agree, the museum is worth a visit. I was there when I was 21 and have been a fan of his ever since.

[Richard Kimball]

This is the painting referenced in the article:

The letter in the lower right is the one they claim van Gogh painted as a reference to his brother getting married.

[martin_fierro]