Brilliant but troubled Dutch Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh had his left ear amputated after a ‘fiery brawl’ with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in Arles, Franceon this day in history, December 23, 1888.
The 35-year-old artist famously presented a bloody earlobe to a female acquaintance outside a brothel.
The incident emphasized the tragedy descent into madness It is punctuated by a staggering display of productivity and genius in Van Gogh’s final months on Earth.
“Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime, but now he is one of his best-selling works. popular artist The Art Story Foundation calls him an “iconic and tortured artist” in a biography of this painter.
His “fundamentally idiosyncratic, evocative style continues to influence artists and movements throughout the 20th century and into the present, ensuring Van Gogh’s importance into the future.”
The infamous act of self-harm still haunts the art world and fascinates people today.
According to some art scholars, the story contains vague legends and inaccuracies.
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“For a long time it was accepted that Van Gogh gave a bloody appendage to a brothel prostitute named Rachel. [that] Van Gogh was a frequent visitor when he lived in Arles, in the south of France,” Berkeley Library said. University of Californiain a 2019 interview with Irish art historian Bernadette Murphy.
“He gave a woman an ear outside the brothel and told her to ‘keep this thing safe,’ according to local newspaper reports. She passed out on the spot.”
“Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, but he is now one of the most popular artists of all time.”
Murphy said the woman was “traumatized” when she received the bloody earlobe, adding that the woman was a cleaner, not a prostitute, and that her name was Gabby, not Rachel.
The Berkeley Library explains, “Gabby also worked in a café that Van Gogh regularly visited, suggesting the two were closer than previously believed. ”.
Van Gogh was admitted to a mental hospital the following May.
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The incident preceded one of the most glorious periods of artistic expression in Van Gogh’s short and infamous artistic career.
While recovering from his wounds, he painted “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ears” in early 1889.
“The Starry Night” was painted in June 1889 while Van Gogh was in a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Remy, France.
The Starry Night, perhaps Van Gogh’s best-known and most acclaimed work, was painted in June 1889 while he was in a mental hospital in Saint-Remy, France.
In July he created one of his most famous works, Wheatfield with Cypresses.
After living in Paris for two years, Van Gogh got tired of the breakneck pace and fled to the Mediterranean coast of France, arriving by train on February 20, 1888, in the village of Arles on the Rhône.
“He longed for the peace of the countryside, the sun, and the light and colors of the ‘Japanese’ landscapes he hoped to find in Provence in the south of France,” writes the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
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“With this ‘artist’s colony’ in mind, Vincent rented four rooms in the ‘Yellow House’ on Place Lamartine. Paul Gauguin was the first artist to move in with him and Ultimately, I was the last artist.”
Their artistic and personal differences became increasingly hostile, the museum reports.
Van Gogh died on July 29, 1890 from a gunshot wound to the chest, reportedly from self-inflicted injury.
“Vincent began to show signs of agitation, and when Gauguin threatened to leave, the pressure was too much. Van Gogh became distraught and threatened his friend with a razor. Later that night, he cut off his own ear in the Yellow House.” I wrapped it in newspaper and gave it to a prostitute in the nearby red-light district.”
Van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest on July 29, 1890. Some historians suggest that Van Gogh was murdered.
A weapon believed to have been used to kill him sold for $182,000 at a Paris auction in 2019.
Vincent van Gogh was only 37 when he died.
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“Starry sky, starry night / Paint my palette blue and gray / Look at the summer days / With eyes that know the darkness of my soul” American songwriter Don McLean He wrote “Vincent,” a painfully beautiful hit in 1971 and an ode to the artist’s troubled heart.
“They didn’t listen, they didn’t know how/Maybe they will listen now.”