Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Van Gogh's Ear

I lived in The Netherlands for 15 years, so I have seen a great many original Vincent Van Gogh works. The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam is one of the city’s top tourist attractions, second only to coffee shops and the ready availability of legal marijuana and hashish. Vincent Van Gogh clearly was a very troubled man who eventually commited suicide by shooting himself. This Dutchman was a religious fanatic, and he was mentally ill. At one point 30 of his neighbors went to the police referring to him as the "red headed mad man." He was forced to move.


Recent research paints a pretty compelling picture that Vincent Van Gogh did not cut off his own ear. According to book published in September 2008 which is based upon ten years of research by two German academics, Van Gogh lost his ear in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in a fight outside of a brothel in Arles, France in the south right on the Mediterranean Sea northwest of Marseille.


The authors looked at witness accounts and letters written by the two artists. They concluded that an argument in a whorehouse ended with the Parisian Paul Gauguin, who was an excellent fencer, cutting off his friend's ear. Vincent Van Gogh then allegedly wrapped his severed ear in some cloth and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel.


No doubt the French Whore named Rachel was totally grossed out by this ear event and felt that she had been paid inadequately, all things considered. The two men agreed to keep the real story about how the ear got cut off secret, since Paul Gaugin would have gotten in a great deal of trouble if the truth had come out. Soon afterwards Gaugin left for Tahiti and never saw Van Gogh again.


The authors are: Hans Kaufmann, Dr. phil., Jahrgang 1941. Studium der Geschichte, Romanistik, Philosophie und Pädagogik an den Universitäten Freiburg i. Br. und Hamburg. Lehrtätigkeit im Hamburger Schuldienst. Lebt in Hamburg. Rita Wildegans studierte Kunstgeschichte, Archäologie und Vor- und Frühgeschichte an der Universität Hamburg.





LINK: http://www.amazon.de/Van-Goghs-Ohr-Gauguin-Schweigens/dp/3940731145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1241536085&sr=1-1



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