The outstanding artist Vincent Willem Van Gogh, despite his madness, long search for vocation, loneliness and unrequited love, was noted not only in the art world, but also in medicine. No less legendary than his work, the story of the cut off ear has become.
Secrets of Van Gogh's severed ear
There are many versions of why Vag Gog cut off his ear, but only he knew the true reason. Perhaps the answer is known to his descendants, who still keep Vincent's personal letters and documents in complete secrecy.
Version number 1. Van Gogh was a genius whose work was not accepted by everyone. Some adored him, others hated him. And ironically, the man whom Vincent admired so much did not perceive his paintings and spoke extremely negatively about them. It was Paul Gauguin. Once Van Gogh invited Paul to his place in Arles. Being financially dependent on Vincent's family, Gauguin accepted the invitation.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone will find out the real reason for this behavior, but Van Gogh's disease - most likely epileptic psychosis - clearly played a major role here.
After some time, being constantly together, they began to conflict more and more. And one evening Van Gogh broke loose and crept up to Gauguin with a razor, wanting to kill him, but he noticed him and prevented the assassination attempt. On the same night, Van Gogh cut off his earlobe. What for? Perhaps out of remorse. Historians consider this version extremely illogical and put forward the following supposed course of events.
Version number 2. On that unfortunate night between Van Gogh and Gauguin, a quarrel really took place, it came to a fight with swords, and Paul accidentally cut off his opponent's left earlobe.
Version number 3. While Van Gogh was shaving, his mind became clouded, and in a fit of a mental attack he cut off part of his ear himself.
Version number 4. This assumption claims that the cause of the nervous breakdown was the marriage of his brother, on whom Van Gogh was highly dependent. It is possible that in this way the artist expressed his frustration about this.
Version number 5. Such consequences could have been caused by the action of psychotropic drugs, including absinthe. Perhaps, being in an altered state of consciousness, the artist wanted to test whether he could feel pain.
Van Gogh syndrome
In 1966, on the basis of this incident, a mental syndrome was named in honor of the talented madman. This syndrome manifests itself when a person either makes a surgical intervention for himself, or asks others about it.
Van Gogh's syndrome is most possible in schizophrenia, body dysmorphic disorder, body dysmorphomania.
The huge number of versions is confusing, but, nevertheless, thanks to the legend, the syndrome gained the right to exist.
In any case, whichever version you consider to be fiction, and which one - the truth, the severed ear became part of the story inextricably linked with one of the most emotional and unpredictable post-impressionist artists of the 19th century.
