Vincent van Gogh, "Self Portrait" (1889)
We all think we know the story. Vincent van Gogh, in a state of mania, cut off a chunk of his earlobe and later that night gave it to his favorite prostitute. Right? Well according to two German art historians the official history is wrong. They claim that van Gogh’s artist roomate Paul Gauguin cut off the famous earlobe with his sword. Yeah, a little weird. Their version of the story is this — “Near the brothel, about 300 metres from the Yellow House, there was a final encounter between them: Vincent might have attacked him, Gauguin wanted to defend himself and to get rid of this ‘madman’. He drew his weapon, made some movement in the direction of Vincent and by that cut off his left ear.”
Van Gogh and Gauguin had been living in the city of Arles, France in what Vincent called “artistic community”. Things were not going well with Gauguin first being angered by van Gogh’s manic speed of painting (almost a painting a day), then being frustrated by Vincent’s wild mental swings. According to this new theory, these are the events which led to the lobe-slicing episode. Read the whole story here.
Of course, most art scholars are not satisfied with this new story. Most prominent and outspoken among them is Martin Gayford, the author of a great book on the van Gogh/Gauguin relationship, The Yellow House. Read his objections here.
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