Exhibit Offers New Clue About a Mutilated Ear
AMSTER DAM — Everyone knows that Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear. But since that fateful event, there has been continuing debate about the severity of that mutilation, which took place in Arles, France, in December 1888. Did he simply slice off a little chunk of his ear, or did he lop off the entire ear?
Bernadette Murphy, an author who was researching the last period of that Dutch Post Impressionist’s life, discovered a document that may help resolve the issue. A note written by Félix Rey, a doctor who treated van Gogh, contains a drawing of the mangled ear showing that the artist indeed cut off the whole thing.
The letter and drawing are on display for the first time at the Van Gogh Museum’s exhibition “On the Verge of Insanity,” which runs here through September 25. The exhibition will also include about 25 paintings and other objects, like a corroded revolver that van Gogh may have used to kill himself. These will try to explore the final stretch of his life, from the ear- cutting incident to July 29, 1890, when he apparently committed suicide in Auvers- surOise, France.
“This is really the start of a new series of small, focused exhibitions,” said Nienke Bakker, curator of paintings for the Van Gogh Museum. “This seemed for us to be the perfect subject to start with.”
Ms. Bakker said that most museum visitors wanted to know the details of van Gogh’s life. But Steven Naifeh, co-author with Gregory White Smith of the 2011 “Van Gogh: The Life,” said he didn’t think the new material helped.
“I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they had indeed found new information from Rey, but it is not new, and it is not credible,” Mr. Naifeh said in an email.
In the biography, Mr. Naifeh and Mr. Smith argue that witnesses who saw van Gogh after Dr. Rey said that the entire ear was not missing.
They all “saw a portion of the mutilated ear remaining — so much, in fact, that, when Vincent was seen from face- on, the damage could go unnoticed,” they wrote. “Dr. Gachet, who saw Vincent in Auvers in 1890, made a very detailed etching of the artist’s mutilated ear at that time showing that the entire pinna (outer portion) of the ear was not taken off, but the missing portion was more than just a lobe.”
Ms. Murphy was also able to identify the woman to whom van Gogh gave his ear. She said her name was Gabrielle, a young maid who worked in a brothel. According to a local newspaper, he told her, “Keep this object carefully,” and she immediately fainted.
Ms. Bakker now says she thinks this was t he delirious, unconscious behavior that became characteristic of van Gogh’s mental breakdowns. Van Gogh had no recollection of the events surrounding the ear episode, and said his memory during breakdowns was usually vague. In the hospital after the ear episode, he was ashamed to learn what he had done.
Also on exhibit are a police report on van Gogh’s incident in Arles and a petition by van Gogh’s neighbors, which asked the city’s mayor to institutionalize the artist.
The goal of the exhibition is not to link the artwork to his mental state but rather to make clear that van Gogh was struggling to work despite a debilitating illness.
“It’s amazing the amount of art he was able to create,” Ms. Bakker said, “especially considering that there were sometimes quite long periods when he wasn’t able to work.”