Painted with Woe
February 26, 2024 2024-12-09 8:33Painted with Woe
Unraveling Van Gogh’s mysterious death
From the fibers of a paintbrush to the canvas, art can express multiple meanings as broad as joy to inner turmoil. In society’s evolution, countless creative figureheads have lent their skills to multiple periods of innovation. Van Gogh was one of these significant leaders who led a remarkable life of tragedy, endurance, and metamorphosis in the post-impressionist era. That being said, the conclusion of his death has much to be desired as a chilling mystery.
Van Gogh was born on March 30th, 1853, in Zundert, Netherlands. He remained quiet and reserved since childhood. Anytime he had a chance to himself, he would pass his time in seclusion, mostly in nature.
Though he had many encounters with art, it was not until he was 27 that he decided to pursue it as a full-time career in 1880. His works contained serene and charming landscapes, portraits, domestic interiors, and still lifes. All of which used the signature impasto technique, where he would apply thick layers of paint to create a visible texture on the canvas. The most renowned of his collections would be Starry Night, a dreamlike abstract landscape that was conceived in the Saint-Paul asylum.
Throughout his life, Van Gogh suffered various amounts of psychiatric illnesses. Evidence suggests he possibly had manic depression, epilepsy, and bipolar disorder, making him act irrationally and landing him in an asylum. Van Gogh’s unstable mental health also led him to cut off the lower part of his left ear with a razor. Considering his unstable mental conditions, many deemed his death an act of suicide. However, others believe that Van Gogh was a victim of murder.
The painter suffered a gunshot to the stomach 30 hours before his death. He was returning to an inn he was staying at for the time being in Auvers-sur-Oise, France when the family that owned the inn saw his condition. Van Gogh had difficulty explaining to the family what happened but soon showed the wound. He confessed to the family that he tried to take his life in the wheat field where he painted and died two days later.
Adeline Ravoux, the daughter of the inn owner, gave this testimony in 1953, remembering what her father once told her 50 years before. Every time she was to explain the details, her account would change, causing many to not rely on her words. However, 120 years later, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, two Pulitzer-awarded authors, stated that Van Gogh did not commit suicide but got shot accidentally by a 16-year-old schoolboy.
The two authors did not think the story and facts matched up. Several things were opt-out and unfound, like where he found the gun, the belongings he had with him that day, and the optimistic letter that was for his brother Theo. In addition, the doctors did not know how to understand the nature of his wound.
Although his name is echoed throughout the world as a masterful painter, Van Gogh did not get this recognition until his passing on July 29th, 1890. Regardless of the testimonies presented by Adeline Ravoux or the claim from the two authors, Van Gogh’s death is still a mystery and will always cause people to debate. It leads to Van Gogh’s death as a strange enigma.
