Van Gogh Museum will show new evidence of mutilation of his ear – El Universal

Since its inception in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, owner of the largest collection of pieces by the post-impressionist genius, focused their presentations on aesthetics progression and technique Dutch, to show “on the verge of insanity” (on the brink of madness), which opens this Friday and in which, in addition to 25 paintings, new evidence will be exhibited on the famous mutilation his left ear.

(PHOTO: the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)

One of the most attractive parts of the exhibition will be the diagram of amputation and a note medical conducted by Felix Rey, the specialist who treated the painter at the hospital in Arles, France, in December 1888, after the incident. The drawing shows that the patient cut almost all the pinna and left only part of the lobe. The document will be displayed next to a portrait by Vincent doctor as payment for their services.

(PHOTO: State Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin, Moscow)

The document was found in the Bancroft Library, University of California, by the Irish historian Bernadette Murphy during an investigation into the last period of the artist for the book “Van Gogh’s ear: the true story” (La oreja de Van Gogh: true story.) to be presented within the framework of the exhibition

the determination of the Dutch art gallery due to constant requests from the audience about the veracity and seriousness of history, how much of the incident is a myth and, therefore, how much of it is true, or what mental condition le ailed .

Some doctors assume that suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, which results in seizures, erratic behavior and loss of consciousness; while others suggest that suffered from bipolar disorder. To address these hypotheses, the museum will host a symposium in which several specialists would argue about it.

But the sample, acotan officials enclosure, not intended to link the work to his mental state, but address the issue . in the sense of how it was that Vincent Van Gogh had to deal with this progression to continue with your plastic exercise

” Self Portrait as a painter “(1987-1988) (Photo: Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

the works intended for display on a floor of the museum mostly belong to the last stage of his life, when problems intensified since the incident cut his ear, until his apparent attempt suicide in Auvers-sur-Oise, in 1890, a period in which, in spite of its constant crises and inability to write, remained prolific on the canvas.

“on the verge of insanity “ending on September 25, also exhibit unpublished documents and other objects that provide more detailed evidence about the pathology of Van Gogh, as a corroded revolver that could be used to shoot himself in the chest.

with information from The New York Times

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