Vincent Van Gogh's Ear Story

Whether you know a little or a lot about art and art history, Vincent Van Gogh is a name known to many. Did Vincent Van Gogh really cut off his own ear? The answer is yes. Vincet Van Gogh cut his left ear. Was it due to ear pain? No, it was said to have been a darker and deeper reasoning behind the incident. 

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853 in an upper middle glass upbringing. He worked as an art dealer before concentrating on his own painting and drawing. A man whom through his life time suffered greatly with depression, mental health problems and poverty. Van Gogh is said to have created over 2000 paintings. He only sold one of his paintings while he was alive and at the time, not fully understanding and being accredited for the brilliance of his work that would go on to be world renowned. Some of his most famous works are paintings of sunflowers, poppies and a starry night sky. 

Which Ear Did Van Gogh Cut Off

Titled "on the verge of insanity" Vincent Van Gogh is described by the Van Gogh Musuem to have cut of his left ear on the 23rd of December 1888. This was to one of several nervous breakdowns he went through. At this point in his life Vincent Van Gogh lived in Arles in southern France inside a beautiful yellow house. When the painter Paul Gaughin arrived in Arles in the October of 1888, events looked positive as Van Gogh dreamed of an artists community. The artists intially worked together happily until differences in personal art ideas began heated debates and arguments. One particular argument is said to have got to such a furious state that a very distraught Van Gogh cut off his left ear.

Van Gogh wrote many letters in his life, many of which he wrote to his beloved brother Theo. Such letters give us an insight into how Vincent Van Gogh would have been feeling at the time. His doctor at the time stated that Van Gogh said the cutting off of his ear was "purely a personal matter".  In 1930 many years later, his doctor, Dr Rey created a drawing of what happened to his ear to show Irving Stone whom was creating the novel at the time about Vincents Life. The drawing explained that Vincent cut off his whole outer ear with a razor leaving only a small section of the ear lobe left. 

Reports of the "ear incident" was written on the front page of Forum Republican on the 30th December 1888. The reports says that Van Gogh wrapped up his removed left ear in paper and delivered it to a young lady working at a nearby brothel. 

 

Self portrait van gogh 1889 wikiart

                                                                                                                       Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear; Image via Wiki Art

Vincent Van Gogh created 30 self portraits, one of which included him wearing a bandage around his ear. Without having his "pinna" (visual part of the ear) of his left ear, Van Gogh would still have been able to hear out of this ear. Cutting his ear off would have reduced his hearing capabilities through that ear, as the outer part of the ear acts as a funnel to collect sound and direct it into the ear canal.

It will have taken time to heal after this incident and if he kept the wound clean after cutting it off would have reduced his chances of losing his hearing. Did Van Gogh have any underlying hearing loss prior to this incident?  If he did not, then having a healthy ear canal, ear drum, middle ear and inner ear would mean he would still hear from his left ear successfully even after he had cut his ear off.

Further reading from the Van Gogh Museum: 

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories/on-the-verge-of-insanity

https://www.wikiart.org/en/vincent-van-gogh/self-portrait-with-bandaged-ear-1889

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