Was Vincent van Gogh Murdered?
Could a rusty revolver finally solve this mystery?
On July 29, 1890, Vincent van Gogh wandered out to a field in Auvers-Sur-Oise, a village less than an hour north of Paris. He made his way past the sprawling wheat fields and along the Rue Daubigny. And with the first morning light dancing through the dense forest, he set down his canvas and began to paint.
But this time, he chose to paint a different subject — twisted and gnarled tree roots. Art historians were even able to pinpoint the exact location of his last painting by these unique trees.
Unfortunately, Van Gogh never finished the painting.
Soon after, in the place that he had once painted wheat fields and cawing crows, he put a revolver to his abdomen and pulled the trigger. He then staggered back to the Ravoux Inn where he was staying. He died two days later.
His death was the final tragic end to a life of despair.
In his final days, van Gogh was tormented by mental health issues and committed himself to an asylum in early May 1889. Between then and his death the following year, he vacillated between recovery and relapses of mental health. One of his most famous paintings, The Starry Night, was painted during this time, along with Eternity’s Gate.
It’s not exactly a cheery painting.
Vincent van Gogh, Eternity’s Gate — 1890
Historians have long debated the events that led up to van Gogh’s death. And that mystery might be solved by the revolver that fired the fateful bullet.
In 1960, a rusty Lefaucheux revolver was found in a field in Auvers-Sur-Oise — the same field that van Gogh allegedly shot himself.
In 2019, the revolver sold for €162,500 ($182,700) — a staggering price considering there isn’t any solid proof that it belonged to van Gogh. What is certain is that the gun’s calibre matched the bullet retrieved from the artist’s body.
But the real mystery remains — was the revolver a suicide or a murder weapon.
The murder theory
The suspected murderer was sixteen-year-old René Secrétan. According to rumours at the time, Secrétan was your typical surly teen who bullied Vincent for months. It is believed the two got into a scuffle, and Secrétan shot Vincent.
Interestingly, handgun expert Vincent Di Maio has claimed the angle of the bullet entering van Gogh’s abdomen was too “awkward” to be suicide. I would never discredit forensic evidence, but I wonder how accurately his physicians recorded the bullet’s trajectory.
Proponents of the murder theory point to the absence of a suicide note, especially since van Gogh was a prolific letter writer. But trying to follow van Gogh’s mental state in his letters is like trying to ride the crest of a wave. Like most people suffering from mental illness, he went through periods of ebullience followed by periods of manic depression.
The gun has no smoke.
The theory that van Gogh was bullied and murdered has some holes. To start, it’s hard to believe anyone would bully the tempestuous artist.
Van Gogh’s irascible nature was well-documented. When his friend Paul Gauguin annoyed him, van Gogh chucked bottles of absinthe at Gauguin’s head. He quarrelled on enough nights with his brother Theo for him to remark, “…he makes life hard not only for others but also for himself.” Given Van Gogh’s combative nature, he doesn’t seem the type to let bullies pick on him.
There is also no solid forensic evidence that this was the gun used to kill van Gogh, nor does the gun indicate who pulled the trigger.
But what makes the murder theory the most incredulous was van Gogh’s mental health. His friends, family, and physicians paint a picture as turbulent as his haunting swirls of paint — Vincent van Gogh was fighting his demons.
His doctors believed he was mentally ill.
Van Gogh was probably closest to his doctor and friend, Dr. Gachet. Shortly after van Gogh was diagnosed with epilepsy, Dr. Gachet treated van Gogh for “melancholy.” (Ironically, van Gogh also described his doctor as “melancholic.”)
Then, there is the ear cutting incident…
Dr. Félix Rey, the physician who attended van Gogh, made drawings showing exactly how van Gogh cut his ear off. In his notes, he writes, “The ear was sliced with a razor following the dotted line.”
Letter in French dated 18 August 1930 with two sketches by Dr. Félix Rey (1867–1932) to writer Irving Stone
You can see from the diagram that van Gogh didn’t just cut off his ear lobe. He self-mutilated his entire ear. And how much of his ear he sliced off matters. An ear lobe is a cry for help. An entire ear indicates serious mental disturbance.
Even more telling than body mutilation, Dr. Rey also wrote about his patient’s epileptic seizures and the depression that followed each episode — an unfortunate symptom of epilepsy.
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr. Felix Rey, 1889
His family believed he committed suicide
Aside from his doctors, the person who was most familiar with Vincent’s struggles was his brother, Theo.
Theo was his confidant, his art dealer, his most cherished friend, and the person who kept Vincent tethered to the hope he would someday recover. Theo most certainly believed his brother had committed suicide. A few days after Vincent’s death, he wrote to his mother:
Vincent said, “I would like to go like this,” and half an hour later, he had his wish. Life weighed so heavily upon him…”
Vincent’s brother Theo was his art dealer and his most trusted confidant (1888)
Van Gogh told everyone he pulled the trigger.
Another letter written from van Gogh’s friend Emile Bernard to Albert Aurier is the most revealing. Bernard detailed van Gogh’s final hours after he staggered back from those golden wheat fields. He writes;
“He finally died on Monday evening, still smoking his pipe which he refused to let go of, explaining that his suicide had been absolutely deliberate and that he had done it in complete lucidity. A typical detail that I was told about his wish to die was that when Dr. Gachet told him that he still hoped to save his life, he said, “Then I’ll have to do it over again.”
Van Gogh was so determined to end his life that he would do it more than once if anyone stopped him. Logically, if someone attempts to murder you, you would not refuse medical assistance.
The police did investigate the shooting too. And van Gogh told them to let him be. He said, “What I have done is nobody else’s business. I am free to do what I like with my own body.”
Van Gogh never accused anyone of shooting him, nor did the police have cause to investigate foul play.
Suicide was a mortal sin.
We also have to remember the stain of disgrace suicide left behind. At the time, society and the church considered it such a mortal sin that van Gogh’s hearse was not allowed to be carried up the hill to the church cemetery.
If his friends and family believed he was murdered, they surely would have insisted he receive a proper burial.
Was van Gogh murdered?
I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person, but the truth is that without any clear forensic evidence, there isn’t any smoking gun that indicates murder.
According to his brother Theo, Van Gogh’s final words on his death bed were– “La tristesse durera toujours” [The sadness will last forever].” Not even death could allow van Gogh to escape the clutches of hopelessness.
Theo wrote of his brother’s last words, “I understood what he wanted to say with those words.” Theo knew the anguish that chipped away at his brother’s heart probably better than any modern biographer. Vincent’s pain was his pain, and as brothers, they shared that crown of thorns.
If Theo believed Vincent van Gogh committed suicide, I believe him.
Sources and footnotes:
[1] The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, 68.
[2] Due to how the ear was cut off cleanly, historians have also speculated that Gauguin might have cut van Gogh’s ear off with a fencing sword.
[3]It is still unknown if van Gogh had epilepsy, but he did have seizures. Naifeh and Smith (2011), 701 ff., 729, 749.
[4] http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/21/etc-Theo-mother1.htm
[5] http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/21/etc-Bernard-Aurier.htm
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