It is generally recognised that Van Gogh cut off the lobe of his left ear during some sort of seizure on 24 December 1888, although doubt has recently been cast on this theory by Dr Wildegans, who suggests that an accident during a fight between himself and Gauguin may have been the cause

On 23 October Gauguin eventually arrived in Arles, after repeated requests from Van Gogh. During November they painted together. Uncharacteristically, Van Gogh painted some pictures from memory, deferring to Gauguin's ideas in this. Their first joint outdoor painting exercise was conducted at the picturesque Alyscamps. It was in November that Van Gogh painted The Red Vineyard.

In December the two artists visited Montpellier and viewed works by Courbet and Delacroix in the Museé Fabre. However, their relationship was deteriorating badly. They quarrelled fiercely about art. Van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, and what he described as a situation of "excessive tension" reached a crisis point on 23 December 1888, when Van Gogh stalked Gauguin with a razor and then cut off the lower part of his own left ear lobe, which he wrapped in newspaper and gave to a prostitute named Rachel in the local brothel, asking her to "keep this object carefully." It has recently been proposed by two German art historians that Van Gogh did not cut off his own ear, but that Gauguin, a fencing ace, attacked Van Gogh. It is said that the two artists agreed to hide the truth of what happened. Gauguin left Arles and never saw Van Gogh again.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh


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