Why did Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear?
The short and sweet answer. . . It has been speculated that Van Gogh suffered from bi-polar disorder(see http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/1380 ). He commited suicide in 1890. Around 1888, van Gogh suffered a mental breakdown (possibly induced by absinthe) and cut off part of his left ear, which he gave to a startled prostitute friend. From http://en.wikipedia.
To be precise, it was the lobe of his left ear which he put into an envelope and gave to a brothel wench named Rachel with these words: “Guard this object carefully.” After he tried to drink a quart of turpentine in his studio, he was sent to the asylum at Saint-Remy on May 7, 1889. The doctors began to treat him with hydrotherapy for acute mania and epilepsy. A precise diagnosis of Van Gogh’s illness is still unavailable, despite hundreds of conjectures. We do know a few facts: Van Gogh suffered from syphilis contracted from prostitutes off the docks at Antwerp; there was also a history of mental illness in his family. Some physicians now believe Van Gogh may have had a congenital brain lesion that was aggravated by absinthe.
It’s now believed that he didn’t. What is believed to have happened was a fight between him and P. Gauguin in his studio was the result of the mutilation. Gauguin was a master swordsman and we believe that in a fit of frustration towards Van Gogh, Gauguin cut his ear with a rapier! The day or the day after Van Gogh went into the hospital Gauguin left Arles quickly to another city. Although Van Gogh did not report it to the authorities it’s understood that he might have kept silent to protect what he considered his friend. I believe this to be true, knowing a lot of the man’s history, the time it happened, where it happened and the general atmosphere during the incident makes it more plain and reasonable that this would be the proper story. Van Gogh was depressed, but he was not a nut job, nor a masochist. In the end he was suicidal but he was not crazy, and I don’t believe he was crazy enough to mutilate himself. Given the information I have in my studies in the arts I would have to ag
