On the fateful night of 23 December 1888, Vincent van Gogh, consumed by emotional turbulence and the strains of his stormy relationship with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, took a razor to his own left ear in a fit of despair.
This shocking act followed a heated argument between the two painters, whose companionship in the Yellow House at Arles had grown increasingly fractious.
Wrapping the severed ear carefully, Van Gogh sent it to a female courtesan at a nearby brothel, an enigmatic gesture that perplexed contemporaries and has since become a symbol of his tortured genius.
This act marked a turning point in Van Gogh’s life, leading to his eventual institutionalisation and deepening his struggles with mental illness.
