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Van Gogh’s death: Suicide or murder?

Two days later, the creator of the legendary Starry Night died but not the myth that had followed him to the inn with the bullet.
Photo: artmajeur
By Chandra K. Pjr

The year was 1890. It was Sunday, July the twenty-seventh. As usual after his midday meal at Ravoux Inn, Vincent Van Gogh collected his easel, canvas, and painting kit, and prepared to go out. After all, he loved working under the open sky. A fine French sunshine was pouring into his room. Just before leaving, he stood by the window and looked dreamily across the crowd of houses towards the vast stretch of wheat fields. What went on in his mind at that specific moment is difficult to pinpoint. However, what happened to him a few hours later is so well-known that it has become one of the canonized legends of the art world.


That night Van Gogh returned to the Revoux Inn with a bullet in his chest. A moment before his arrival, someone peering from their half-closed window must have caught sight of a dejected-looking, shadowy figure tottering along in the murky light of the street lamps. On closer inspection, the curious watcher would also have deciphered streams of blood oozing through the gaps of the fingers that pressed at the site of the wound. Poor Van Gogh, on the verge of collapsing, shocked the owner and the customers of the inn with his uninvited arrival. Immediately the news spread and with it the rumor that the desolate artist had tried to kill himself. 


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Two days later, the creator of the legendary Starry Night died but not the myth that had followed him to the inn with the bullet. That the master, at the time alone and obscure, killed himself has been accepted without much further investigation. One decisive reason for this has been Van Gogh’s own words. When the police, who had come to investigate the shooting, inquired, “Did you want to commit suicide?”, Vincent had replied, “Yes, I believe so.” The vagueness of this response, inscribed in ‘believe so’, does not offer substantial weight to his statement. Besides, Van Gogh, who is known for his sympathetic personality, might as well have been trying to protect the actual perpetrators who were, most likely, a pack of rowdy teenagers trying to assault him.   


Not that Vincent was immune to the crushing force of despair. He, of course, fell under the sway of suicidal thoughts at times. However, he had never tried to translate this impulse into action. Even during his hardest time, when he stood at the door of lunacy, he had managed to endure. In any case, if we overlook these observations and assume that he did kill himself, the following questions inevitably come to the fore. Why did he, who had tried to shoot himself, return with the wound to seek help instead of shooting himself again and finishing it off? Besides, the gun with which he shot himself was never recovered. Where did the gun go? Moreover, where did Van Gogh, who was never sighted with a gun, get one in the first place? Also, his painting kit along with the canvas and easel were never found as well. Where did they disappear? 




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