Historians: Van Gogh’s ear was cut off by French artist Paul Gauguin

For more than a century, history told us that the famous French artist, Vincent Van Gogh was a tortured genius who cut off his own ear due to mental illness, but new information has come forth that disagrees with the self-mutilation.

A ten-year study by two German historians now claims that French painter, Paul Gauguin cut off Van Gogh’s ear while the two men were arguing outside a brothel.

It is believed that in December 1888 while the two artists were living together in the South of France, Van Gogh, who taught himself to draw, got into an argument with Gauguin.

(Some historians believe it was over a retreat that Van Gogh was hoping to open, while others claimed the two men were lovers who had gotten into a fight.)

The historians believe that Gauguin and Van Gogh were arguing over a prostitute named Rachel outside the whorehouse where she worked, and while waving a weapon in the direction of his friend, Van Gogh’s ear came off.

“The left ear fell, we cannot say if it was deliberate or an accident.  In this situation, the protagonists vowed to keep silent. Then Gauguin disappeared, abandoning his friend,” Hans Kaufmann of Hamburg University said.

In the 400- page book, Kaufmann said “the next day, the police questioned him.  That’s when he made up the theory about self-mutilation.”

Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, who also contributed to the book, believe that seven months later the artist became upset that his friend had abandoned him that he shot himself in the chest with a shotgun.

The historians said that because there were no witnesses, people accepted Gauguin’s story that Van Gogh had chopped his own ear off.

The historians also believe that Van Gogh was suffering from lead poison from the paint and not mental illness.

They said if the truth had come out about Gauguin, he would have been sentenced to prison, whereas the police would never have closed Van Gogh’s retreat.

“He might have been able to found the retreat he dreamed of.  His illness, which led to his suicide, might not have degenerated,” the book says.

The writers said that Gauguin threw the sword into the Rhone River and neither the sword nor the alleged razor was ever found.