Welcome to Van Gogh's Ear

OCTOBer 03, 2018Posted by JW

 
Deutsche Übersetzung
version français

You are interested in Vincent van Gogh, his life and his art? We share your passion for the great Dutch artist who in many respects laid the foundations of modern art and whose personal life was so closely connected with his existence as an artist.

May we firstly introduce ourselves to you:

wildegans & kaufmann

We are two German academics, living and working in Hamburg/Germany:
Dr.phil. Hans Kaufmann, studied General History, French, Philosophy and Pedagogics at the Universities in Freiburg and Hamburg; and
Dr.phil. Rita Wildegan studied art history and archeology at Universität Hamburg.

In September 2008, after years of research, we published a German book about the lives and workings of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, particulary their brief collaboration in Arles in 1888:

Hans Kaufmann/Rita Wildegans:
Van Goghs Ohr – Paul Gauguin und der Pakt des Schweigens; Berlin (Osburg) 2008; ISBN 978-3-940731-14-2; quoted as "Kaufmann/Wildegans 2008".

While results have found significant resonance in the world press1, they have not been embraced by the established art historians specialised on Van Gogh.

ISBN 978-3-940731-14-2

Unfortunately, the German edition of our book is sold out. Only the Czech edition (without illustrations) is still available2.
Since, there is no English edition of the book yet, this internet presence gives you a summary of our findings.

There is a tv documentary about our work. This short overview in german is subtitled in english:


https://absolutmedien.de/film/1036/Die+grossen+Künstlerduelle
Regie: Andreas Gräfenstein, ARTE Edition

You may navigate quickly through the question and answer section to the right or
take the tour by starting from the beginning.

We welcome your comments, ideas or criticism. To reach to us, please fill out the contact form.

 


1. see e.g. LE FIGARO, 4 Mai 2009; Interview FRANCE 2 (TV), 4 Mai 2009; CNN WORLD NEWS (TV), 4 Mai 2009; THE GUARDIAN, 5 Mai 2009; BBC NEWS, 5 Mai 2009; THE TELEGRAPH, 5 Mai 2009; DAILY MAIL, 5 Mai 2009; CORRIERE DELLA SERA, 5 Mai 2009; THE NEW YORKER 4 Jan. 2010↩

2. Hans Kaufmann, Rita Wildegans: Van Goghovo ucho; Praha (Grada Publishing, a.s.) 2013; ISBN 978-80-247-4395-0 ↩

 

a hasty escape

  • Gauguin was eager to leave Arles as fast as possible. The situation had become too hot for him. After having alerted Vincent’s brother Theo by wire, he left for Paris that evening of the same day, 24 December 1888. In his hasty departure, he left behind not only his wounded friend and the Yellow House, but also most of his personal belongings such as studies, sketchbooks, some of his fencing equipment masks and gloves, even his keys
  • ... read more

special:

Vincent van Gogh and the series La Berceuse, Arles 1888–1889.

The period that Vincent van Gogh spent in Arles and Saint-Rémy from 1888 to 1890 undoubtedly belongs to the most creative phase of his artistic career. The existence of the almost identical paintings of Madame Augustine Roulin, the wife of the Arles postmaster, is consequently all the more surprising.
... read more


The Corpus Delicti Is a Corpuscle

  • It can be said that with the exception of the sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, who had family-related reasons for playing down the injury, not a single witness speaks of a severed earlobe. On the contrary, the mutually independent statements by the principal witness Paul Gauguin, the prostitute who was given the ear, the gendarme who was on duty in the red-light district, the investigating police officer and the local newspaper report, accord with the evidence that the artist’s unfortunate “self-mutilation” involves the entire (left) ear.
    ... read more (new window)