Van Gogh chops off ear
On this day in 1888 Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh suffering from severe depression cuts off the lower part of his left ear with a razor while staying in Arles France.He later documented the event in a painting titled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.Today Van Gogh is regarded as an artistic genius and his masterpieces sell for record-breaking prices however during his lifetime he was a poster boy for tortured starving artists and sold only one painting.Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30 1853 in the Netherlands.He had a difficult nervous personality and worked unsuccessfully at an art gallery and then as a preacher among poor miners in Belgium.
In 1880 he decided to become an artist.His work from this periodthe most famous of which is The Potato Eaters (1885)is dark and somber and reflective of the experiences he had among peasants and impoverished miners.In 1886 Van Gogh moved to Paris where his younger brother Theo with whom he was close lived.Theo an art dealer supported his brother financially and introduced him to a number of artists including Paul Gauguin Camille Pisarro and Georges Seurat.
Influenced by these and other painters Van Goghs own artistic style lightened up and he began using more color.In 1888 Van Gogh rented a house in Arles in the south of France where he hoped to found an artists colony and be less of a burden to his brother.In Arles Van Gogh painted vivid scenes from the countryside as well as still-lifes including his famous sunflower series.Gauguin came to stay with him in Arles and the two men worked together for almost two months.
However tensions developed and on December 23 in a fit of dementia Van Gogh threatened his friend with a knife before turning it on himself and mutilating his ear lobe.Afterward he allegedly wrapped up the ear and gave it to a prostitute at a nearby brothel.Following that incident Van Gogh was hospitalized in Arles and then checked himself into a mental institution in Saint-Remy for a year.
During his stay in Saint-Remy he fluctuated between periods of madness and intense creativity in which he produced some of his best and most well-known works including Starry Night and Irises.In May 1890 Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris where he continued to be plagued by despair and loneliness.On July 27 1890 he shot himself and died two days later at age 37.
