Vincent Van Gogh Cuts His Own Ear, On Today's History, December 23 1888

Vincent van Gogh (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - On December 23, 1888, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, cut his left ear with a razor while living in Arles, France. He later documented the incident in a painting entitled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.

Citing History, Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the Netherlands. He had a nervous personality and had little success working in art galleries.

In 1880, he decided to become an artist. His works from this period – the most famous of which is The Potato Eaters (1885) – are dark and somber. Reflects his experience among poor farmers and miners.

Van Gogh then emigrated to Paris with his younger brother, Theo, in 1886. Theo was an art dealer, supported his brother financially, and introduced Vincent van Gogh to a number of artists, including Paul Gauguin, Camille Pisarro, and Georges Seurat.

They had an influence on Van Gogh's artistic style. Make the painting brighter and start using more colors.

Vincent van Gogh's painting Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Courtland Institute of Art Documentation, London)

In Arles, Van Gogh painted vivid landscapes of the countryside as well as still life, including his famous sunflower series. He dreams of establishing an artist community in his home. Van Gogh then invited various artists to join him. Paul Gauguin ended up being the only artist to accept Vincent's offer.

Gauguin lived with him in Arles and the two worked together for almost two months. Van Gogh was pleased that Gauguin had agreed to go south. The two artists worked together for a while, but their discussion grew heated. Gauguin and van Gogh often bickered about such a big topic as the nature of art. Their friendship slowly deteriorated.

Suffering from dementia, van Gogh threatened his friend with a knife before cutting off his own ear. According to research by historian Bernadette Murphy published on the website of the Berkeley Library, an image of van Gogh's doctor showed that a clear cut out all of his ears.

Van Gogh's earpieces were then given to a woman who was in front of a brothel. According to local newspaper reports, van Gogh told him to "take care of this thing." The woman then fainted on the spot.

According to Murphy's research, the woman was a janitor. Murphy also found a news report that said the ear receiver was Gaby. Gaby also worked at a cafe that van Gogh frequented.

Van Gogh Museum, Netherlands. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The reason for cutting his ear

Another reason why van Gogh cut off his ear was that he was frustrated that his sister was getting married. Van Gogh and his sister were very close. Because van Gogh was financially weak, he relied so much on his younger brother for financial support.

Citing CNN, according to research conducted by art expert Martin Bailey, Van Gogh is likely to despair that his sister's marriage will damage their close relationship. The pressure to meet the needs of the new family will result in his younger sibling giving him less money.

Doctor van Gogh himself was convinced that the artist had epilepsy. In addition, some experts also stated that van Gogh suffered from alcoholism, bipolar disorder, and other factors.

Ear cutting is a form of a plea for help from van Gogh. Since van Gogh was also hallucinating, cutting off his ears was also an attempt to "silence" the voices.

*Read other information about TODAY's HISTORY or read other interesting articles from Putri Ainur Islam.

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