The life and death of Vincent van Gogh

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Safer: It should be said that there was no, what we would regard today as a forensic investigation.

Smith: No, there was no autopsy and no forensic investigation. Just the Auvers police came to Vincent's door and said, "Did you try to commit suicide?" And he said, "I think I did."

Safer: "I think I did."

Naifeh: "I believe so."

Smith: "I believe so." Yeah, "I believe so."

Naifeh: And then he said, "Don't accuse anybody else." Which is an odd thing to say.

It should be said that much of the evidence is based on personal recollection and rumor. Still, to the writers, an alternate view of Vincent's death was slowly taking shape. Enhanced by this man, the late John Rewald, an eminent art historian. Rewald was in Auvers in the 1930s, when many people with first-hand recollections of the van Gogh affair were still living.

Naifeh: And the rumors that he heard were that Vincent didn't kill himself, that he was shot accidentally by a couple of boys. And that he decided to protect them and play the martyr. That account fits all the known facts.

And there was a smoking gun - of sorts - in an obscure French medical journal. We located a copy at the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. It was a 1956 interview with Rene Secretan, a well-to-do French businessman.

Naifeh: This was a guilt-ridden account of how he and his brother and especially several friends had gotten to know Vincent that summer.

The teenage Secretan brothers were part of the wave of well-heeled Parisians who descended on Auvers each summer. In the interview, Rene Secretan said they bought Vincent drinks at the Ravoux Inn. And teased him and taunted him mercilessly.

Naifeh: They put salt in his coffee and chuckled when he spit it up. They put a snake in his paint box and he almost blacked out.

But Vincent, as always, was desperate for company. And tagged along as the teenagers did what young people do, down by the river.

Naifeh: One of the many ways to taunt him was to kiss and caress their girlfriends in front of him here along the riverbank. And in some cases, they had the girls go over to Vincent and pretend to seduce him. And he felt incredibly uncomfortable -

Safer: It was really tormenting -

Naifeh: He knew that it wasn't genuine. He knew that they were just being put up to this and that they were laughing at him.

Another piece of the puzzle came from the Louvre in Paris, where the authors found this untitled sketch by Vincent. They believe it actually shows Rene Secretan, decked out as Buffalo Bill, whose Wild West show was a major hit in Paris just the year before.

Naifeh: Rene was running around Auvers in a rodeo cowboy hat and a fringed jacket and cowboy boots. And with a gun that he had borrowed from Gustave Ravoux. It turns out the gun had not been loaned to Vincent, but, much more credibly, had been loaned to this 16-year-old kid.

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by trutwin October 25, 2011 1:36 AM EDT: Always a fan of Vincent's I thoroughly enjoyed the program.

Over the course of 120 years the facts about Van Gogh's life and death have had ample time to become distorted even when handed down through the families of people who actually knew him. And aside from Vincent's personal letters to Theo and others how much verified documentation about his life exists today? At the time of his death he wasn't the equivalent of a modern day film or rock star and almost no one knew of his existence thus his name wasn't on everyone's lips. And remember, when he died no one knew that he would one day be acknowledged as the world's most famous artist.; Reply to this comment

by dodger318 October 21, 2011 8:17 PM EDT

Please share with your audience the errors in this.
Vincent had friends. 265 of his letters contain he word friend, many of them preceeded by the word dear. "A Remarkable Friendship", book written about him and John Peter Russell. Toulouse-Lautrec challenged someone to a dual over his friendship with Vincent. Also, Theo looked nothing like Vincent. Theo, thin, handsome, brown-haired. Vincent, stout, red-haired, not handsome. The picture in Van Gogh: The Life labeled as Vincent at 13 is Theo, not Vincent. Just look at Vincent's photo at 18, which is correct. And, I've only been researching Vincent's life for 5 years, part-time. Please correct these errors. thanks

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by dodger318 October 21, 2011 8:29 PM EDT: Another error. One of the authors touches his right ear indicating that was the one that Vincent cut. It was actually his left ear. To paint a self portrait you have to use a mirror and mirrors reverse images left/right. Check it out.


by ludwig October 18, 2011 8:25 PM EDT: It is notable a similar story regarding the great Russian composer who supposedly commited suicide by water contaminated cholera. Tschaikovsky died November 6, 1893. Since then various claims have been made about his death--including (1)given a choice of being exposed as a gay man or committing suicide (2) being murdered by a St, Petersburg restaurant waiter by serving T. water with ice carrying cholera and a few others. IF only the rumors would stop --we would know the truth both about Vincent, who died on July 29,1890 and Tchaikovsky--both of whom had various so-called 'mental' problems and both died only three years, approximately apart. One recognizes as a great composer--the other an unsung painter.; Reply to this comment


by ludwig October 18, 2011 8:12 PM EDT: Modern forensics could do something to solve this puzzle through DNA investigation IF the gun exists and not too many people have handled it since. The guilt story of the boys could bear some truth--if we could get DNA analysis from their remains and compare with the DNA left on the gun. DNA from Vincent should be easy to obtain from the letters and other things that he handled.
The art professors at USCar.@Aiken need to be forgiven for their lack of scientific knowledge and should have included a forensic scientist on their team as do most archeologists worthy of their profession. IS the motivation for research a situation of publish of perish--we will not know.; Reply to this comment


by ggoski1 October 18, 2011 12:17 PM EDT: I enjoyed the program especially the art I hadn't seen before. I work with people with mental illness, and the one thing I didn't like was his new diagnosis of temporal lobe seizures. He seems classically schizophrenic to me and I don't think there should be any shame in saying that.; Reply to this comment


by Tralbaut October 17, 2011 9:20 PM EDT: The rumor that two young boys accidently shot Vincent has been around for some time -- see "Vincent van Gogh: chemicals, crises, and creativity" published in 1992, on page 259, and available at wilfredarnold44@gmail.com As described therein, the rumor was first recountered to me in 1988 by Professor John Rewald who professed no confidence in the rumor -- and I find noi evidence to support it.; Reply to this comment


by rwsmith29456 October 17, 2011 6:57 PM EDT: It's great to bring attention to Van Gogh but somebody is trying to sell the story about how he died. I'm not buying.; Reply to this comment


by sarchd280 October 17, 2011 2:50 PM EDT: I just have to say loved this story. I didn't realized that I liked van Gogh until my first year of college when my grandmother died. I coudn't make it to her funeral but my mom ask me what I wated from her house and I said the van Gogh print of his sunflowers. It wasn't that I even knew who painted the orginal all I knew was that I stared at it every time we went to her house. It know hangs in my bedroom. Also becuase I mentioned it the flowers my mom and her siblings choose for the service ended up being those sunflowers.; Reply to this comment


by workerdroid October 17, 2011 12:26 PM EDT: I went to an exhibit several years ago at the Belagio Hotel in Vegas. There was an Impressionist Artist exhibit. I stood in front of Van Gogh paintings for a long time. It was an incredibly moving experience.
Until you see one up close, you can't really appreciate them. It was a remarkable thing to see.; Reply to this comment


by wlhoppers October 17, 2011 12:17 PM EDT: Why is this a headline story? This is nothing but hype and promotion going into November ratings.

CBS - always after the dollar, not the news; Reply to this comment