Vincent Van Gogh

Date

1889

Description

Creator of the image: Vincent van Gogh
Date of the image creation: 1889
Medium of the image: Oil on canvas
Person depicted: Vincent van Gogh

This image, called rather practically, ‘A Self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh with a Bandaged Ear’, was painted in early 1889. In this portrait van Gogh depicts himself in three-quarter profile. His right ear is bandaged, when in fact his left ear was injured — the painting was plainly done using a mirror. The artist uses a distinctive brushwork and palate with which he captures his vivid vision with a kind of deliberate disharmony. His green eyes stare at the viewer with intensity.

A week before, the following report was published in the journal Le Forum Républicain:

‘Last Sunday, at 11:30 in the evening, Vincent Vaugogh [sic], a painter of Dutch origin, called at the Brothel No. 1, asked for a woman called Rachel and handed her … his ear, saying: “Guard this object with your life”. Then he disappeared. When informed of the action, which could only be that of a pitiful madman, the police went the next day to his house and discovered him lying on his bed apparently at the point of death. The unfortunate man has been rushed to hospital.’

After his release from hospital, van Gogh managed to convince his doctors that he was indeed able to take care of himself and did not need to be committed to an insane asylum. This portrait was painted about two weeks after the famous ear-cutting incident and just before a petition signed by some of his neighbours saw him forcefully removed, taken to a local asylum and locked in an isolation cell. A little over a year later he committed suicide at age 37.

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