Famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh’s life has been a mosaic of vibrant hues and tortured emotions, culminating in a death shrouded in mystery and speculation.
At age 37, he shot himself on 28 July 1890 while out painting in the wheat fields.
The bullet was deflected by a rib and passed through his chest without doing apparent damage to internal organs – possibly stopped by his spine. He was able to walk back to the Auberge Ravoux, where he was attended to by two doctors.
Suffering from an infection resulting from the wound, he died in the early hours of 29 July.
According to Theo, Vincent Van Gogh’s brother, the painter’s last words were: "The sadness will last forever".
His death is a macabre punctuation to a life as vibrant and tumultuous as a tempestuous sea.
Yet, the circumstances surrounding his demise are as shrouded in mystery as the starry night he immortalised.
Was it a deliberate act of self-destruction, a tragic accident, or something more sinister lurking in the shadows of the Provençal countryside?
Palettes of peril
Van Gogh, a man of profound sensitivity and artistic vision, was also a tempestuous soul. His life was a relentless pursuit of beauty, a relentless battle against inner demons.
Epilepsy, exacerbated by absinthe, painted grotesque shadows across his psyche. His letters, a confessional outpouring of his tormented soul, reveal a man on the precipice, a tightrope walker over an abyss. Yet, within this maelstrom of despair, there was a relentless drive to create, to give form to the chaos within.
The final months in Auvers-sur-Oise were a crucible for Van Gogh.
Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1885–86)
Surrounded by the verdant beauty of the French countryside, he produced some of his most iconic works. Yet, this idyllic setting belied a growing internal turmoil.
Did the weight of his artistic vision, coupled with his deteriorating health, become too heavy a burden to bear?
Colours of contradiction
As the summer of 1890 unfurled its golden tendrils over the quaint village of Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh’s creative fervour was at its zenith.
His canvases, ablaze with frenetic energy, depicted a world teetering on the edge of surrealism and reality.
Yet, beneath this external vigour lurked an internal tempest.
On 27 July 1890, Van Gogh staggered back to his lodgings, clutching a bullet wound in his abdomen.
The painter, known for his intense emotional oscillations, had seemingly succumbed to despair.
Conventional accounts have long posited suicide as the cause of his fatal injury.
However, this theory is fraught with inconsistencies.
For one, the gun was never found. Moreover, the angle and placement of the wound raise questions about the feasibility of self-infliction.
Van Gogh’s own cryptic utterances on his deathbed further muddle the narrative.
When questioned about his injury, he reportedly replied, “I shot myself... but I am not at all sorry”.
In recent years, scholars have proposed alternative theories, suggesting that Van Gogh’s death might have been accidental or even the result of foul play.
Among these conjectures, the hypothesis involving René Secrétan, a local teenager known for his boisterous pranks, has garnered significant attention.
Some posit that Secrétan, wielding a malfunctioning gun, might have inadvertently shot Van Gogh during a misadventure.
Van Gogh, ever the tortured soul, might have taken the blame to shield the young man from retribution.
This narrative, while speculative, adds a layer of human complexity to the tragedy.
It paints Van Gogh not merely as a tormented artist but as a man capable of profound empathy and self-sacrifice, even in the face of death.
A resonant tragedy
Regardless of the precise circumstances, Van Gogh’s death marked the culmination of a life steeped in creative brilliance and personal anguish.
His passing sent ripples through the art world, reverberating across generations.
Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1885–86)
The pathos of his life and death imbues his work with an enduring poignancy, compelling us to view his oeuvre through the lens of his suffering.
Van Gogh’s legacy, however, extends beyond the melancholic allure of his biography.
His revolutionary techniques and emotive use of colour laid the groundwork for modern expressionism.
The raw intensity of his brushstrokes, often perceived as a window into his tormented psyche, continues to inspire and challenge contemporary artists and viewers.
The eternal enigma
Vincent Van Gogh’s death, much like his life, remains a complex and multifaceted enigma.
It is a tale woven with threads of genius and madness, compassion and despair.
The unanswered questions surrounding his demise invite one to ponder the intricate interplay between creativity and suffering, sanity and insanity and challenges to look beyond the starry night.
