New study reveals Van Gogh may have lost his ear to another man

A pair of German art historians think there's more to the story of Vincent Van Gogh's ear than meets the eye. In a new book, aptly titled Van Gogh's Ear, Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans claim the artist Paul Gauguin lopped off the painter's ear with a fencing sword, either in a fit of rage or self-defense, and that it was the incident, not a more generalized madness, that drove Van Gogh to commit suicide two years later. (Not in dispute is the fact that Van Gogh gifted the severed flesh to a prostitute -- lucky girl).

Whether or not the wound was self-inflicted, it happened just as or after Gauguin was leaving Van Gogh's house after a tumultous visit that may or may not have been sexually charged. In any case, this wasn't your average bro throwdown. According to Kaufmann and Wildegans, the two tortured artists upheld a pact of secrecy after the incident -- "Gauguin to avoid prosecution and Van Gogh in a vain attempt to keep a friend with whom he was hopelessly infatuated."

--JESSANNE COLLINS

Previously > Dolly Parton's Book of Many Colors

Comments

[michaelj72]

this whole story does tell things from a different perspective doesn't it - i've always read he cut off part of his ear in a fit over a lost lover affair with a local prostitute. (is there a gay screenplay here a la verlain and rimbaud?)
i never thought of van gogh as being infatuated with gauguin except from an artistic and friendship perspective, but it may indeed be true about something more than meets the eye going on. poor vincent was such a loner....what a great writer too, his letters to his brother theo are a treasure.