The life and death of Vincent van Gogh

The map of his madness - according to the accepted theory - ultimately led Vincent to the wheat fields one summer evening. There, armed with a pistol, he attempted suicide. Gravely wounded, he managed somehow to get himself down the hill and up the stairs to his tiny rented room - this room - in the town of Auvers. Where, 30 hours later, he died, with Theo at his side. That's the story that's endured for 121 years.

Smith: The first inkling that I got that there was something wrong was when I really started to look at the existing story. There were so many things about it that were wrong, and didn't make sense.

Their database kept yielding inconsistencies, contradictions and unexplained questions about the official story. For instance:

Naifeh: How did he get the gun? Everybody in Auvers knew that he had been in an insane asylum. Pistols were a rarity in rural France. Who would've given Vincent van Gogh a gun?

When we return: what the authors think is the true story of van Gogh's death.

In 1956, the movie "Lust for Life" was released. That biography of Vincent van Gogh more than anything else etched into history the suicide in the wheat field version of how he died. It starred Kirk Douglas as the troubled artist.

Troubled in so many ways: bedeviled by hallucinations, depressed, probably alcoholic, suffering from that curse of the 19th century - syphilis. A lonely figure to be avoided or mocked.

But in the spring of 1890, at age 37, he found a place he thought would bring him peace: the French village of Auvers, where he would die just 70 days after his arrival. The authors of the new van Gogh biography maintain the circumstances of his death were far different from the movie version.

Auvers was just a half hour train ride from Paris. A quiet, bucolic farming town on the banks of the river Oise. The area was a magnet for painters like Cezanne, Pissarro and Corot, giants of modern art.

Naifeh: This was not only a place where the best artists of the era came to paint, because it was so beautiful. For somewhat similar reasons, the wealthy of Paris would come and summer here. It was sort of the Hamptons of the 1890s.

Safer: The smart set.

Naifeh: The smart set came here.

Inspired by his surroundings, van Gogh painted like a man possessed, turning out a picture a day. He painted the medieval church on the hill, looking as though it's about to jump off the canvas. He painted the town hall, decked out for Bastille Day. And just across the street, the Auberge Ravoux, the inn where he lived and took his meals.

Safer: He ate here every day?

Naifeh: He did eat here every day. His only social interaction during the day was in ordering food which is really incredibly sad.

In this picture taken outside the inn the year Vincent died, Gustave Ravoux, the owner, sits at the left. His teenage daughter Adeline stands in the doorway. Key figures in the story of what happened on Sunday, July 27, 1890.

Safer: On that day like most other days, Vincent left the cafe carrying his easel, some canvases and his paint box, ready to begin yet another day of feverish work. And just as the sun was setting, he returned to the cafe: staggering, clutching his stomach, clearly in great pain. Was his injury the result of a botched suicide attempt - as the official history maintains - or had something else happened?

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[trutwin]

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.

[dodger318]

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

[dodger318]

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.

[ludwig]

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.

[ludwig]

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.

[ggoski1]

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.

[Tralbaut]

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 [e-mail] 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.

[rwsmith29456]

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.

[sarchd280]

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.

[workerdroid]

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.

[wlhoppers]

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