Who Weilded The Blade That Cut Off Vincent Van Gogh’s Ear?
Two German art historians beg to differ with the traditional story line that sees post-impressionist painter Van Gogh cutting his own ear off in a fit of pique. According to their new book, it was Paul Gauguin.From the Guardian this morning: According to official versions, the disturbed Dutch painter cut off his ear with a razor after a row with Gauguin in 1888. Bleeding heavily, Van Gogh then walked to a brothel and presented the severed ear to an astonished prostitute called Rachel before going home to sleep in a blood-drenched bed. But two German art historians, who have spent 10 years reviewing the police investigations, witness accounts and the artists’ letters, argue that Gauguin, a fencing ace, most likely sliced off the ear with his sword during a fight, and the two artists agreed to hush up the truth. In Van Gogh’s Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, published in Germany, Hamburg-based academics Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans argue that the official version of events,
