Monday, August 10, 2020
The Mystery Surrounding Van Gogh's Ear
Why did Van Gogh cut his ear off?
Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most well-known artists of modern times. With his famous painting, Starry Night, drawing thousands of tourists every year, Van Gogh’s fame has lasted throughout the years. Van Gogh’s personal life has been a focus of books, songs, tv shows, and movies. The most recent being the Oscar nominated Loving Vincent which was released in 2017. What makes Van Gogh so fascinating? Van Gogh’s life is an interesting one, which includes a mystery surrounding his famous ear cutting.
Van Gogh was born in Holland on March 30, 1853 to a religious family. He was a quiet and solitary child, though he did have a deep friendship with his younger brother Theo. Van Gogh had a troubled start, failing at several jobs and romances. He was an art dealer, teacher, a bookseller, a missionary, and a preacher. After being dismissed from the ministry, Van Gogh pursued art. In 1880 he began to work on his art, studying in Belgium where he was living at the time. Believing he had found his true calling, Van Gogh described his art to “give the wretched a brotherly message,” as he told his brother Theo. His first artworks were drawing and watercolors. He studied with a landscape painter, Anton Mauze. Over time Van Gogh developed his painting skills and moved into oil paint. Over the next few years, Van Gogh painted works of art focused around life of the common man. Around this time Van Gogh’s confidence in his art grew, and his very famous style began to emerge. Drawing inspiration from Paolo Veronese, Peter Paul Rubens, and Eugene Delacroix, he began to shift his color choices. He also was introduced to Japanese prints which he fell in love with and began to collect as well as use as inspiration.
In 1886, after being kicked out of the Antwerp Academy for not following directions in his art, he moved to Paris to live with his brother Theo. He met artists who would be the leaders of the Impressionist movement, Paul Gaugin, Camille Pissarro, and Georges Seurat. Van Gogh became enamored with Impressionism and its use of light and color and strove to match the style. His dark colors became bright, his brushstrokes became short, but it was something different from Impressionism. By 1888, the very famous style that has become synonymous with Van Gogh, emerged. It was also in that year that he left Paris to move to the French countryside. He began to paint some of his most famous works of art, including the only painting he ever sold; The Red Vineyard. Van Gogh decided to form a group of artists, a little community of painters who shared his vision, and invited several artists that he had become friends with. Gauguin moved to the house in October 1888. It was a disastrous affair that turned bloody.
Gaugin and Van Gogh had different views and temperaments that led to a rapid destruction of their relationship. The relationship came to a breaking point with the highly contested story of Van Gogh’s ear cutting. On Christmas Eve, 1888 Van Gogh and Gauguin argued. The most prominent story is that as they argued, Van Gogh took a razor and in a mental breakdown, threatened Gauguin with it before cutting his own ear off. Then he gave the wrapped ear as a present to a prostitute before going home to sleep. While this story is the most well know, is it really the case? One theory, made by German historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, is that Van Gogh was not the one to cut his ear, but it was Gauguin who cut it off during the argument. They go on to further say that Van Gogh fabricated the story to protect Gauguin from any wrong-doing. There are many references, Kaufmann and Wildegans claim, to a “pact of silence” by both artists to never speak of the instance. Gauguin even referred to Van Gogh as “a man with sealed lips.”
Another theory has less to do with Gauguin, and more to do with Theo, Van Gogh’s beloved brother. Theo was Van Gogh’s biggest supporter, providing emotional and financial support for Van Gogh’s artistic endeavors. An art expect, Martin Bailey, theorizes that it was the news of Theo’s engagement that sent Van Gogh over the edge. Theo and Jo Bonger were engaged in December. Bailey poses that Theo would have told Van Gogh, whom he was so close with, before he could find out about it from someone else. In a letter from Van Gogh in January, there is a mention of a letter on December 23rd, which Bailey says could have included the news of the engagement. Fearing that he was being replaced, and would no longer be supported emotionally or financially, Van Gogh broke down. The news was the spark, and the fight with Gauguin was the gasoline that brought the fire of the mutilation.
Still, there are other theories that it was more about Van Gogh’s medical problems, which have also been widely contested. Some say it was epilepsy, others say poisoning, alcoholism, bipolar disorder, or depression. While there are many theories, the real reason may never be known. Van Gogh refused to talk about it telling his doctor that “it was a purely personal matter.” Unfortunately, the story followed Van Gogh around for the next few years, having made the papers. He checked himself into a metal institution in Saint-Remy, which is where he painted his famous painting Starry Night. Leaving the institute in 1890, Van Gogh shot himself two months later in July, though the shot did not kill him. He died two days later in a hospital. The life of Van Gogh is a sad one, with many parts of it still shrouded in mystery with his image of the quintessential tortured artist persisting across all mystery and debate.
Sources:
Gaugin and Van Gogh had different views and temperaments that led to a rapid destruction of their relationship. The relationship came to a breaking point with the highly contested story of Van Gogh’s ear cutting. On Christmas Eve, 1888 Van Gogh and Gauguin argued. The most prominent story is that as they argued, Van Gogh took a razor and in a mental breakdown, threatened Gauguin with it before cutting his own ear off. Then he gave the wrapped ear as a present to a prostitute before going home to sleep. While this story is the most well know, is it really the case? One theory, made by German historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, is that Van Gogh was not the one to cut his ear, but it was Gauguin who cut it off during the argument. They go on to further say that Van Gogh fabricated the story to protect Gauguin from any wrong-doing. There are many references, Kaufmann and Wildegans claim, to a “pact of silence” by both artists to never speak of the instance. Gauguin even referred to Van Gogh as “a man with sealed lips.”
Another theory has less to do with Gauguin, and more to do with Theo, Van Gogh’s beloved brother. Theo was Van Gogh’s biggest supporter, providing emotional and financial support for Van Gogh’s artistic endeavors. An art expect, Martin Bailey, theorizes that it was the news of Theo’s engagement that sent Van Gogh over the edge. Theo and Jo Bonger were engaged in December. Bailey poses that Theo would have told Van Gogh, whom he was so close with, before he could find out about it from someone else. In a letter from Van Gogh in January, there is a mention of a letter on December 23rd, which Bailey says could have included the news of the engagement. Fearing that he was being replaced, and would no longer be supported emotionally or financially, Van Gogh broke down. The news was the spark, and the fight with Gauguin was the gasoline that brought the fire of the mutilation.
Still, there are other theories that it was more about Van Gogh’s medical problems, which have also been widely contested. Some say it was epilepsy, others say poisoning, alcoholism, bipolar disorder, or depression. While there are many theories, the real reason may never be known. Van Gogh refused to talk about it telling his doctor that “it was a purely personal matter.” Unfortunately, the story followed Van Gogh around for the next few years, having made the papers. He checked himself into a metal institution in Saint-Remy, which is where he painted his famous painting Starry Night. Leaving the institute in 1890, Van Gogh shot himself two months later in July, though the shot did not kill him. He died two days later in a hospital. The life of Van Gogh is a sad one, with many parts of it still shrouded in mystery with his image of the quintessential tortured artist persisting across all mystery and debate.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vincent-van-Gogh
https://www.vincent-van-gogh-gallery.org/biography.html
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/biography.html
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7506786&page=1
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/van-gogh-chops-off-ear
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/van-gogh-ear-slash-motive-trnd/index.html
https://www.vincent-van-gogh-gallery.org/biography.html
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/biography.html
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7506786&page=1
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/van-gogh-chops-off-ear
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/van-gogh-ear-slash-motive-trnd/index.html
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