Book: Friend Chopped Off Van Gogh's Ear

(CBS)  Friendship for Vincent Van Gogh apparently had no limits.

A pair of art historians suggest the painter did not lop off his ear himself - instead, his friend, fellow famed artist Paul Gauguin - sliced it off with a sword and the two vowed a "pact of silence," the Telegraph in London reports.

The common story is that Van Gogh, during a bout of insanity, took off his ear with a razor, wrapped it in cloth and gave it to a prostitute.

However, the two German scholars and authors of the book "In Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence," Gauguin stormed out of Van Gogh's house in southwestern France after an unhappy visit.

After having a glass of wine tossed at him and with Van Gogh following him into town arguing all the while, Gauguin, an excellent fencer, chopped off his tempestuous friend's ear with the epee he kept at his side.

Gauguin then tossed his sword into the Rhone river; Van Gogh delivered the ear to a prostitute at a nearby brothel, the authors speculate.

The authors, Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, say their main source of proof rests with Van Gogh's last words to Gauguin: "You are quiet. I will be, too."

[vangoghauthor]

I, too, thought Gauguin accidentally cut off part of Vincent?s ear. There is no doubt Gauguin had fencing equipment at the Yellow House. But, after much study, I think the most simple explanation is the best. Namely, that Vincent cut off part of his own ear during his first epileptic-style seizure while he was shaving. Notice in both of his self-portraits with bandaged ear, he is clean-shaven. And, if that?s not enough, Vincent passes on the same explanation from his physician, Dr. Rey, to his brother in a letter dated May 22, 1989. ?Most epileptics bite their tongue and injure themselves. Rey told me that he had seen a case where someone had mutilated his own ear, just as I did, and I think I heard a doctor from here, who came to see me with the director, say that he too had seen it before.? A glint of light off the straight razor may have even triggered the attack.
John Adams, author, ?Van Gogh in Paris?