Paxman presents a picture perfect profile
So, how do you prepare for Christmas? Obviously buying presents will be high on the list, as will making sure you’ve got enough food and drink in the house for not only you and yours, but also any visitors who may drop by. It’s doubtful that Vincent Van Gogh did any of those things. Instead, he sliced off his ear with a razor blade and gave it to a woman. An unusual gesture, we think you’ll agree. Pretty much everybody knows the story of the troubled Dutch painter and his self-mutilating act, which took place shortly before December 25th 1888 – in fact, he was found with his head swathed in bloody bandages on Christmas Eve itself. But how much of the story is true, and how much is a myth that grew up around this tragic figure following his death two years later? For seven years, ‘art sleuth’ Bernadette Murphy attempted to find out, and the results can be seen in her book Van Gogh’s Ear: The True Story. She’s also at the centre of this documentary, The Mystery of Van Gogh’s Ear (Saturday, BBC2, 9pm) ,in which she and Jeremy Paxman travel the globe in search of various artefacts that hold the key to unlocking the mystery. “It’s great to have this compelling piece of art historical detective work on BBC2 – and the truth about one of the more grisly and intriguing moments in art illuminates the inner state of this brilliant and troubled man,” says Mark Bell, head of the BBC’s arts commissioning. Van Gogh was a postImpressionist whose work found no fans or audiences during his lifetime. By the time of the earslicing incident, his mental health was in severe decline, although it was also around this time that, during a period living in Arles in the south of France, he honed the style that is so popular today. It’s been widely reported over the years that his mutilation occurred following an argument with his friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and was brought on by an acute psychotic episode. Paxman and Murphy travel to Arles in a bid to unearth more information, as well as Van Gogh’s homeland before heading to the Californian library that is home to the archive of writer Irving Stone, who penned the book Lust For Life, which told Van Gogh’s story. There, hidden away, is a small piece of paper containing a drawing – not by the artist, but by Felix Rey, the doctor who treated him. It’s actually a diagram revealing exactly how much of the ear was taken away by the blade.