One thing about crimes associated with artists: there's no statute of limitations, at least as far as speculation goes. The latest cold case to be revived is the disappearance of Van Gogh's ear. The official story, as everyone knows, is that a mentally disturbed Van Gogh sliced off his own ear after an argument with Paul Gauguin. Now two German researchers, Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, concluded after a 10-year investigation that Gauguin sliced off the ear of a mentally disturbed Van Gogh with a sword. The setting is basically the same, only in this version Gauguin was defending himself against an attack by the Dutch artist. It's a less grusome and, perhaps, more plausible explanation that then generally accepted one, but less cinematically compelling.
It's amazing how Van Gogh was so truly ahead of his time. It's probably why we're still talking about him today. I even read something on pandalous that suggests he may have been a precursor to all 20th century art. It's here: http://www.pandalous.com/nodes/van_gogh_as_a_precursor
Posted by: Vyla | June 24, 2009 at 07:51 PM