True, Van Gogh cut off his ear. The story of Van Gogh's severed ear

Today, everyone has heard the name of the great artist, but most of him is known only as a man who cut off his ear, and as the author of paintings that cost enormous money. This article contains the most interesting facts from the life of Van Gogh.

named after brother

Vincent Willem Van Gogh was born in the family of the pastor of the Protestant church Theodore and the bookbinder Anna Cornelia. The parents named the boy the same way as their first child, who was born a year earlier and did not live more than a week.

Wanted to be a priest

At first, Vincent seriously wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a clergyman. In the family of the future artist from a very early age, a love for religion was instilled - and his father and grandfather were respected priests. To receive the priesthood, it was necessary to study for 5 years at the seminary, but due to the impulsive nature of such training, Vincent seemed long and unproductive, so he went on an accelerated course at an evangelical school. This course was designed for three years of study, including a six-month missionary in a small mining town. Having spent these years of his life in terrible conditions, Vincent seriously doubted the saving properties of religion.

During the sermon, for which he had been preparing so long and diligently, none of the miners listened at all, and Vincent understood these people very well. After the sermon, a serious conversation took place with his father, in which the future artist confessed his doubts and that he no longer saw the point in further education. On this basis, the father and son quarreled strongly and never spoke again.

All works written in 10 years

Van Gogh decided to paint already at a mature age, and in just 10 years he became a professional, wrote all his works and turned the established concepts in the visual arts upside down.

Was in love with his own cousin

Vincent met Kay Vos-Stricker, his cousin, when she and her son were visiting the artist's parents. At the time of the meeting, the cousin was a widow, but she rejected Van Gogh's feelings. Despite this, Vincent continued to court the lady, and thereby turned all the relatives against him.

The myth of the severed ear

In fact, Van Gogh did not cut off his ear - if this had happened, the artist would most likely have died immediately from a large loss of blood. This story is mysterious and shrouded in mystery. The most plausible version is as follows: Paul Gauguin came to Van Gogh to discuss a common workshop, but the artists did not come to a common point of view, as a result of which a conflict broke out, culminating in a fight and Vincent's attack on Gauguin with a razor in his hands. Gauguin was not injured, but Van Gogh cut off his earlobe that night. To this day, it is not known what it was - whether the artist repented of yesterday's incident or is it just the consequences of absinthe abuse.

Treatment in a psychiatric hospital

Immediately after the incident with Gauguin, Van Gogh is sent to a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Residents of the city of Arles, where the incident with a razor occurred, asked the city authorities to isolate the artist from society, as a result of which Van Gogh was sent to a settlement for the mentally ill of San Remy. But the artist does not stop working, and even in the conditions of such an institution he creates great works, such as Starry Night.

mysterious death

The artist passed away under extremely mysterious circumstances at the age of 37. Van Gogh died from blood loss as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest from a pistol with which the artist drove away birds during the open air. To this day, it is not known for certain whether it was a suicide or an attempt. Van Gogh's last words were: "Sadness will last forever."

(1853-1890) cut off his ear, every second schoolboy knows. But why - not every adult can explain. Like, he was crazy, strange ...

Vincent van Gogh "Self-portrait with cut off ear", 1888.

This explanation did not suit me even at school, when, at the age of fourteen, I discouraged a young art history teacher with my interest.

It turned out that there are two versions: official and not official. Which one to believe is up to you. Genius is often (if not always) identical to madness. To understand the essence of things that fateful year in the life of an impressionist, you need to visit his dream house - in a yellow two-story building, sunny as summer in Provence. This is what we will do with you now.

Yellow house in Arles

On May 1, 1888, Vincent van Gogh rented a house with bright yellow walls in the French city of Arles. This house was located at 2, Place Lamartine, and Vincent intended to create from it a creative studio not only for himself, but also for other artists. This was his dream, and he repeatedly wrote to his brother Theo about it.

Letter to Brother Theo in which Vincent describes the "Yellow House", 1888.

Vincent had four rooms at his disposal: an atelier and a kitchen on the first floor, two bedrooms on the second. There was a grocery store next door. In a four-story building next to it is a restaurant where Vincent had dinner every evening. At the end of the street there is a railway bridge.

Vincent van Gogh "The Yellow House", 1888

See the window where the shutters are covered? There was our hero's room.

Vincent van Gogh "Room in Arles", 1888. Van Gogh painted his room three times, without changing anything in the composition - only the colors differ. This is the very first version.

The room was small (the window was the only one) and - quite likely - a walk-through: the doors can be seen from both sides. On the walls there is a small mirror, two portraits of his own brush (a portrait of the poet and artist Eugen Boch and a portrait of a soldier Paul-Eugen Millet), a landscape at the head of the bed, and sketches.

Vincent van Gogh "P portrait of the poet Eugen Boch and "Portrait of a soldier Paul-Eugen Millet", 1888.

The rest of the rooms were decorated by the artist much more idly and - to match the color of the house - sunny: bright yellow "Sunflowers". There are seven canvases of them, today they are scattered in the leading galleries of the world: from London to Japan. These are my favourites.

Vincent van Gogh "Sunflowers", 1889, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA

friend visit

Now look at the second floor window against the wall (on the canvas "Yellow House" it has the shutters wide open). See?

After Van Gogh's departure, the yellow house housed a bar.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), the first (and last) artist to join Vincent in Arles, looked out through this window for nine weeks.

Paul Gauguin "Self-portrait", 1888.

And not for free: Gauguin received "travel allowances" from Theo van Gogh. And it is understandable: unlike Vincent, he was already quite famous.

Vincent did not have time to write a canvas depicting Gauguin's room, but from his letters it is known that the room of the long-awaited guest is larger, brighter and more elegant than his own. And this is what the chairs of the painters looked like. For me, for example, a "crazy" artist is always associated with this chair: bright, simple, sunny. A kind of self-portrait, don't you think?

And Gauguin - with his.

Vincent van Gogh "Van Gogh's Armchair" and "Gauguin's Armchair", 1888.

As expected, the joint creative life soon - namely: two months later - cracked. They say that Vincent could sit down by Paul's bed and study his motionless sleeping body. And all sorts of memories-tales. Be that as it may, it is difficult for two creative personalities to get along under the same roof. Beautiful Frida, if you remember, loved her artist husband Diego with all her heart, at the same time!

One day Paul had enough, Theo unsubscribed and left home.

Then it started...

Paul Gauguin "Portrait of Van Gogh at the easel", 1888.

So why did Van Gogh cut off his ear?

Official version

Vincent, of course, was deeply upset by the departure of Paul: after all, having barely realized, his big dream collapsed. The dream is to create a joint creative studio. His first guest of honor left. He left, hot, offended.

The artist was so agitated that he lost self-control: he cut off his left ear, carefully wrapped it in a white scarf and headed to the brothel to deliver the "package" to Gauguin's favorite prostitute. (They say she fainted. Of course.)

Vincent van Gogh "Cedar tree and figure in the garden of St. Paul's clinic", 1889.

Vincent van GoghEntrance to the clinic", 1889.

Vincent van Gogh, Clinic Courtyard, 1889.

unofficial version

You are silent. I will be silent too. — Vincent's last words to his "friend" Paul.

In 2009, the book "Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Oath of Silence" by Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans was published. In it, Hamburg historians, who have been studying police files, eyewitness accounts and the artist’s letters for ten years, are trying to prove that the ear “suffered” during a heated quarrel between two artists. According to their version, the artists were heading to a brothel when, in a fit of anger or self-defense, the excellent swordsman Paul Gauguin swung his sword at Vincent. Further - everything is according to the scenario of the official version: with an ear in a scarf, Vincent trudged to a brothel to his beloved Gauguin prostitute, and then bled in his radiant house until the police found him, almost alive, the next morning.

“You are silent. I, too, will be silent" - this was the last known phrase, said by Vincent to "friend" Paul. Historians believe that it was because of this vow of silence that Vincent took all the blame. Gauguin did not want to testify at all ...

Vincent van Gogh "Olives", 1889.

Since 1944, the yellow house has existed only on Van Gogh's canvas. During the Second World War, Arles was heavily bombed, in place of the yellow house - new buildings.

“Vincent took a straight razor that lay on the edge of the washbasin and opened it. He grabbed the criminal's ear and pulled it as far as possible by the lobe, and then cut off the criminal flesh. The razor missed the top of the ear, slid off about halfway through and went all the way to the jaw. The skin was easy to cut, but the cartilage was too resilient, and it took tenacity or bestial strength for the flesh between the fingers to finally give way. By this point, the whole arm was already covered in blood.
Stephen Knyfe and Gregory White Smith in Van Gogh. Life"

Let's watch the video:

The famous "Bedroom at Arles". To the left of the window above the dressing table hangs a small mirror. Apparently, it was in front of this mirror that Vincent tried to cut off his ear on the eve of Christmas 1888.

Pictures used in this video:

Self-portrait with bandaged ear and pipe
Vincent Van Gogh
January 1889, 51 × 45 cm

Self-portrait with cut off ear
Vincent Van Gogh
January 1889, 60 × 49 cm

self-portrait
Vincent Van Gogh
September 1889, 65 × 54 cm

self-portrait
Vincent Van Gogh
September 1889, 51 × 45 cm

Portrait of Vincent van Gogh
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1887, 57 × 46 cm

Still life with absinthe
Vincent Van Gogh
1887, 46.3 × 33.2 cm

For Vincent, his face, apparently, was an inexhaustible source of ideas and a field for experimentation. The artist painted his first self-portrait only in 1886, and over the next four years he created several dozen more. Often these works are very different from each other, they can be used to trace both the techniques and styles used by Van Gogh and the changes in the state of mind of the author. However, one more sad assumption can be made: Vincent painted so many self-portraits because of the feeling of endless loneliness ...

yellow house
Vincent Van Gogh
September 1888, 91.5 × 72 cm

Night cafe in Arles
Vincent Van Gogh
September 1888, 80.7 × 65 cm

On the threshold of eternity
Vincent Van Gogh
May 1890, 81 × 65 cm

Arena in Arles
Vincent Van Gogh
December 1888, 73 × 92 cm

Armchair Paul Gauguin
Vincent Van Gogh
December 1888, 90.5 × 72.7 cm

In 1888, the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh cut off part of his left ear after an argument with the Frenchman Paul Gauguin. This incident is widely known, although the motives of the artist's act are not clear. It is believed that he attacked his friend in a fit of madness caused by the abuse of absinthe. But there was one interesting detail in the whole story that was never quite clear: how badly did the painter hurt his ear?

Van Gogh researchers have always believed that the artist took away only part of the ear - perhaps only the lobe. But while researching Van Gogh's life, a mysterious researcher discovered a drawing made by the attending physician. According to the image, the artist cut off almost the entire ear.

Bernadette Murphy, author of the new book Van Gogh's Ear, found an interesting drawing in the archives of Irving Stone, the American writer who novelized Van Gogh's life story in Lust for Life. Murphy learned that in 1930, Stone went to France in Arles in search of material, where he met with the artist's doctor. He drew Stone a sketch of Van Gogh's ear before and after the artist, in a fit of strong feelings, self-mutilated. This drawing clearly shows that Van Gogh was left with only a small piece of earlobe.

This is the first book by Bernadette Murphy. The future writer was born in Ireland, but for many years she lived in the south of France - in the favorite places of Gauguin and Van Gogh. In an interview, Murphy mentions teaching art history. The publisher characterizes her with the following words: "an ordinary woman who revealed to the world an extraordinary secret."

In Murphy's own words: “I had health problems... I had a lot of free time... I enjoyed unraveling the mystery. This exploration was an incredible adventure... In my little house in Provence, I couldn't believe that I had found something new and important about Vincent van Gogh."

Few people know that in two self-portraits, Van Gogh captured himself with his right ear bandaged, although he cut off his left. Most likely, this is an involuntary deception of the artist, who painted himself looking in the mirror.

It is worth noting that Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were extraordinary personalities. They experienced the whole gamut of emotions and entered the textbooks on the history of art.

There are many versions of why Vag Gog cut off his ear, but only he knew the true reason. Perhaps the answer is known to his descendants, who still keep Vincent's personal letters and documents in complete secrecy.

Version number 1. Van Gogh was a genius whose work was not accepted by everyone. Some adored him, others hated him. And, ironically, the person Vincent admired so much did not perceive his paintings and spoke extremely negatively about them. It was Paul Gauguin. Once Van Gogh invited Paul to his place in Arles. Being financially dependent on Vincent's family, Gauguin accepted the invitation.

Unfortunately, the real reason for this behavior is unlikely anyone will know, but the illness of van Gogh apparently, epileptic psychosis - there is clearly played a major role.

After some time, constantly being together, they began to conflict more and more. And one evening, Van Gogh broke loose and crept up to Gauguin with a razor, wanting to kill him, but he noticed him and prevented the assassination attempt. On the same night, Van Gogh cut off his earlobe. What for? Perhaps because of remorse. Historians consider this version extremely illogical and put forward the following alleged course of events.

Version number 2. On that ill-fated night, a quarrel really took place between Van Gogh and Gauguin, it came to a fight with swords, and Paul accidentally cut off his opponent's left earlobe.

Version number 3. While Van Gogh was shaving, his mind became clouded, and in a fit of a mental attack, he cut off part of his ear himself.

Version number 4. This assumption claims that the marriage of a brother, on whom Van Gogh was highly dependent, became the cause of the nervous breakdown. It is possible that in this way the artist expressed his frustration about this.

Version number 5. Such consequences could be caused by the action of psychotropic drugs, including absinthe. Perhaps, being in an altered state of consciousness, the artist wanted to test whether he could feel pain.

Van Gogh syndrome

In 1966, based on this incident, a mental syndrome was named after a talented madman. This syndrome manifests itself when a person either performs surgery on himself, or asks others about it.

Syndrome of van Gogh "s most likely in schizophrenia, dysmorphophobia, dismorphomania.

A huge number of versions are confusing, but, nevertheless, thanks to the legend, the syndrome has gained the right to exist.

In any case, whichever version you consider fiction, and which one is true, the severed ear has become part of a story that is inextricably linked with one of the most emotional and unpredictable post-impressionist painters of the 19th century.

In the arsenal of psychiatry there is a term - Van Gogh syndrome. They talk about him when a mentally ill person either demands an operation on him, or tries to perform it on himself with his own hands. The name is associated with the name of the famous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. This man once cut off his earlobe along with part of the ear. Why could he do it?

The syndrome, named after the great painter, occurs in various mental disorders - dysmorphophobia (pathological dissatisfaction with one's appearance), schizophrenia. In the hospital where Van Gogh was placed after this strange act, he was diagnosed with epilepsy of the temporal lobes.

Modern psychiatrists studying the artist's biography prefer to talk about epileptic or manic-depressive psychosis. In the first case, the disease could be hereditary. People suffering from epilepsy were among the relatives of the painter on the maternal side. In the second case, the cause of the disease could be a passion for absinthe, combined with hard work.

How did it happen?

According to the generally accepted version, Vincent committed an act of violence against himself on December 23, 1888 after a quarrel with Paul Gauguin.

Van Gogh at that time thought about creating the "Workshop of the South" - a brotherhood that would develop a new direction for future generations. At the same time, he pinned great hopes on P. Gauguin. But Gauguin did not share the ideas of Van Gogh, and Vincent could not understand this, and the meetings of the two, initially peaceful, increasingly ended in quarrels. During one of these quarrels, Van Gogh in a rage grabbed a razor and attacked his interlocutor, Gauguin miraculously managed to keep him. Returning home, the artist felt deep remorse that he decided to punish himself in such a terrible way.

Van Gogh didn't cut off his ear

The German scientists G. Kaufman and R. Wildegans believe that the reason for the quarrel between the artists was not a disagreement in art, but a rivalry over a woman.

The cause of the conflict was a certain woman of easy virtue named Rachel. Van Gogh really attacked Gauguin, and he, being a good swordsman, defended himself with a rapier, as a result of which he cut off Vincent's ear.

Subsequently, giving evidence to the police, it was Gauguin who said that Van Gogh had mutilated himself, while Vincent was unable to say anything intelligible.

Paul Gauguin is not to blame

The English researcher M. Bailey came to the conclusion that Van Gogh nevertheless cut off his own ear, but the quarrel with Gauguin was not the reason.

Shortly before this event, Theo, Vincent's brother, sent a letter to his mother, in which he announced his intention to marry, and on December 23, Vincent received money from his brother. Most likely, along with the money came the news of the upcoming marriage of his brother.

How could Van Gogh take this news? Subsequently, Theo mentioned in a letter to the bride that Vincent did not approve of his decision and stated that "marriage should not become the main goal of life." This is not surprising: the brother constantly provided Vincent with support - both financial and moral. The upcoming wedding of his brother meant for Van Gogh that he could soon lose brotherly help.

Perhaps the news of his brother's future marriage turned out to be an unbearable test for the artist's unstable psyche. The result was an attack of insanity and an act of violence against oneself.

Sources:

• A. Perryusho Life of Van Gogh