Van Gogh didn't cut off his ear - Gauguin did, new book says Final Edition

• Published in: The Vancouver sun (1986)
• Main Author: Conradi, Peter
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vancouver, B.C Postmedia Network Inc 23.07.2001
• Subjects: LONDON
• ISSN: 0832-1299

None of the other artists whom [Vincent Van Gogh] asked was prepared to join him, however; [Paul Gauguin] was the exception and he agreed only after Theo, Van Gogh's art-dealer brother, promised to pay for his ticket and his stay. On the morning of Christmas Eve, police were summoned to the flat where they found Van Gogh lying in his bed, the side of his head covered with bloodstained sheets. Believing him dead, they initially accused Gauguin of killing him -- but withdrew the claim after he urged them to rouse Van Gogh. [Rita Wildegans], who has studied local documents relating to the case, accuses Gauguin of changing his story. Although he later claimed to have seen Van Gogh wandering through Arles brandishing the cut- throat razor with which he is believed to have severed his ear, there was no mention of this in his initial report to police.