In one of the most famous facts of any artist in the history, on the 23rd of December, 1888, Vincent van Gogh cut off his own ear.
No one knows for sure why Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear, and his decision is still the most debated event in his life. The official version of this event is that the Dutch painter took a razor to his ear after he had a row with fellow artist Gauguin, who was more successful than Van Gogh at the time.
According to this version of the event, after Van Gogh cut off his ear, he wrapped it in cloth and delivered it to a woman at a brothel. After that, he went home to sleep, where he almost bled to death. He was found unconscious the next morning by a policeman and was taken to the hospital.
The debate about the motivation for such an act has raged amongst art historians for more than a century, but The Guardian reports that writer Martin Bailey claims to have finally found evidence of what really inspired the famed Dutch artist to take the razor he kept on his small dressing table and slash off his left earlobe.
Bailey says that Van Gough wasn’t inspired by his argument with Gaugin, but by the news that his brother Theo, his most loyal confidant and financial supporter, had become engaged.
Bailey’s new book Studio of the South claims that his brother Theo sent him a letter that was delivered to Vincent just half a day before the ear incident occurred.
The letter from Theo to Vincent arrived on December the 23rd, 1888, according to Bailey, who says it included 100 francs and news of Theo’s marriage.
Van Gogh was distressed by the news of the marriage and he was afraid that after Theo’s marriage he might “lose” Theo, his closest companion, and he was also worried that his brother might withdraw the financial support which had enabled him to devote his life to art.
The theory is largely based upon this letter, but the letter has since been lost and there is no evidence of exactly what information the letter conveyed. Baily told CNN:
“It’s a matter of putting all the clues together. We don’t have that letter, but in another one, Van Gogh sends in January, he mentions receiving money from his brother on the 23rd of December.”
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It is not certain that this letter led van Gogh to harm himself, and it might have been that both the wedding and the argument with Gauguin contributed to Van Gogh’s mental unease.