New book questions famed van Gogh ear-lopping incident
{original post CBC News Tuesday, May 5, 2009)
A new book is challenging the long-held belief that Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh cut off his own ear, postulating instead that the famed injury was actually the result of a scuffle with fellow painter Paul Gauguin.
Van Gogh’s Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence is the product of 10 years research by German art historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans.
In their book, the duo claim that there are too many inconsistencies in the officially held version of the event, which has long been that the mentally ill van Gogh cut off part of his ear in December 1888 in a fit of madness after fighting with his friend, Gauguin. The two artists had been sharing a house in the southern French city of Arles.
Van Gogh later wrapped the ear in cloth and gave it to a prostitute at a local brothel.
