Why van Gogh cut off his ear

“It is the most famous act of selfmutilation in the history of art”, yet the exact motivation for Vincent van Gogh’s decision to cut off his own ear has never been clear, says Maev Kennedy in The Guardian. It has often been blamed on a passionate row with his fellow artist Paul Gauguin, with whom he lived in Arles. But according to new research, it may in fact have been caused by something quite different: van Gogh’s anxiety about his brother Theo’s forthcoming marriage. The art historian Martin Bailey has uncovered evidence that van Gogh almost certainly received a letter announcing that Theo would marry Johanna Bonger, a young Dutchwoman, on 23 December 1888, the day that he cut off his ear. Bailey thinks van Gogh feared that he would lose his closest confidant, and his main source of financial support, as Theo would have a wife and family to support. “The engagement may not have been the fundamental cause,” said Bailey, “but it sparked off this destructive act.”

Programmes China: Between Clouds and Dreams

Filmed over three years, this beautifully shot five-part film shows the environmental cost of the country’s modernisation. Sat 5 Nov, C4 7pm (60mins).

Planet Earth II

David Attenborough’s wildlife blockbuster returns. Advances in technology have allowed this series to take us closer than ever into the secret lives of animals. Sun 6 Nov, BBC1 8pm (60mins).

Storyville: Weiner – Sexts, Scandals and Politics

Intriguing film about the downfall of the NYC mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, who sabotaged his career by exposing himself in texts. Sun 6 Nov, BBC4 9pm (90mins).

Black and British: A Forgotten History

In this four-part series, historian David Olusoga explores the history of Africans in Britain, from North African Roman soldiers to a black trumpeter in the Tudor court. Wed 9 Nov, BBC2 9pm (60mins).

The Secret Life of Prisons

Major new Cutting Edge documentary showing the brutality of life inside British prisons; it includes footage shot by inmates on smuggledin mobile phones. Thur 10 Nov, C4 9pm (60mins).

Films The Lady Vanishes

(1938) Hitchcock’s classic thriller about the disappearance of an old lady from a train. Sat 5 Nov, BBC2 1pm (90mins).

Glory

(1989) Stirring drama based on the true story of a regiment of black soldiers who fought in the American Civil War. Starring Denzel Washington. Sat 5 Nov, BBC2 10pm (115mins).