Van Gogh’s Suicide (Or Was It?)
Chelsey Wang
Chelsey Wang (10) is known not just for her abnormal skill in volleyball (watch out team China!) but also for her incredible and— quite frankly— disturbing interest in conspiracy theories. In her piece detailing the intriguing details of Van Gogh’s supposed suicide, Chelsey introduces a surprising and insightful new take on his death... Murder.
From cutting off his own ear to having frequent psychotic episodes, we can all agree that Vincent Van Gogh was an undoubtedly eccentric fellow. This is why so many of us believe it when Google tells that he died by shooting himself in the stomach. But did he really?
(Courtesy of Biography)
In the early afternoon of July 27, 1890, Van Gogh left his room of the Auberge Ravoux Inn with his easel and several of his painting supplies to a wheat field. He returned later in the evening, having been shot in the abdomen and dying two days after that. So what happened in the span of these few hours that led to the great painter’s demise? Well, a quick scan over his Wikipedia page tells me that Van Gogh had shot himself in the stomach, which is quite a reasonable conclusion given his deathbed confession of “I harmed myself” and his long history of suicidal jokes (I think we can all relate on this). Nevertheless, despite all the blaring evidence that points me in the other direction, I firmly believe that he was murdered by local boys. I know I sound crazy, but believe me when I say I just love making my life hard. This theory was first introduced in the book Van Gogh: The Life by the Pulitzer winners, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, back in 2011. The authors argued that a 16-year-old called Rene Secretan, who often bullied Van Gogh, was the one responsible for his death.
The Auvers Inn
(Courtesy of Fine Art America)
Anyway, let’s delve into the evidence:
He was against suicide. Because Van Gogh was a religious Christian, he disproved of suicide, claiming that it was “wicked” and an act of “moral cowardice.” He also said, a few years before his death, that he doesn’t see himself committing suicide.
“I’m pretty sure we can all agree that he was quite the quirky and mentally unstable artist that nobody wanted to talk to...”
Van Gogh left with all his supplies and returned with none. Why would someone who wanted to commit suicide, bring all of his utensils into a wheat field and leave them there? This evidence opens up the possibility that someone might’ve stolen his things, seeing that the next day, when a search was done in the area where Van Gogh did the deed, none of his painting supplies were found. Also, I just don’t see him being in the middle of painting one of his masterpieces and going, “Oh, what a nice time to end myself.” But I digress, maybe the mind of Van Gogh really does work like that.
Wheat Field with Crows
(Courtesy of VG Gallery)
The wound should’ve been much bloodier. Van Gogh claimed that after having shot himself, he laid unconscious for several hours before waking up and staggering back to the inn. This would mean that the bloodstain on his shirt would’ve been so much larger, which suggests that the time between him getting shot and him returning to the inn was quite brief.
The odd placement of the bullet. So, as I’ve mentioned before, Van Gogh was shot in the stomach. 2 things are wrong with this. First, if he was planning to shoot himself, why would he choose the stomach? And even if he were aiming for his heart, his stomach is just a tad bit too off… Second, the bullet did not go through his body, which suggests that there was more distance between the gun and himself than Van Gogh could’ve achieved.
Van Gogh was often bullied by local boys. I’m pretty sure we can all agree that he was quite the quirky and mentally-unstable artist that nobody wanted to talk to, which made him a pretty easy target for bullies. “Look at the weird man with frazzled hair and a missing ear! Let’s put a snake in his toolbox that’ll be the epitome of comedy!” Van Gogh was often bullied by René Secrétan, a teenage boy who once thought that it was a good idea to get girls to tease the lonely artist with fake seductions. Haha, children are just the best! Anyway, despite the constant “hilarious” pranks René pulled on Van Gogh, the artist kept the mentality of what I can only describe as “that’s just how it be sometimes.” From this we can see that Van Gogh has been putting up with René‘s teasing for a long time, so what’s to say that he wouldn’t cover up for him if René accidentally shot him.
René has a gun from playing dress-up. Now, you are right if you were wondering why the heck did anyone in their right mind give this child a gun. Well, René became a bit obsessed after watching Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in Paris and returned to Auvers cosplaying as a cowboy, complete with boots, jackets, and a .380 caliber pistol, just perfect for a moody teenage boy who makes rash decisions.
The artist was friends with René‘s brother, Gaston. Gaston loved to converse with Van Gogh because he was fascinated by his art. Since he’s quite close to Gaston, I don’t think that Van Gogh would want to ruin the Secrétan boys’ lives by placing a murder over their heads. This also gives more reason to why the artist would want to cover for the boys.
Witnesses saw him going to a fishing area where René liked to fish. This place seems more plausible than the wheat field because it’s much closer to the inn for a wounded Van Gogh to walk from rather than the wheat field, which was a mile away. This piece of evidence also supports the idea that Van Gogh was shot by René since he was in the area where the boy enjoyed to fish.
Bank of the Oise at Auvers
(Courtesy of Dia)
“...why the heck did anyone in their right mind give this child a gun.”
Many of us are quick to believe everything we come across on the internet without doing any fact-checking or forming our own opinions. Like the case with Van Gogh, most people will simply read his Wikipedia page and move on, believing that he committed suicide when there’s plenty of evidence suggesting that he was murdered. The popular theory of Van Gogh committing suicide, although accepted by many professors, actually has a lot of loopholes such as the bullet wound and the disappearing art supplies. Most of us remember Van Gogh as a deranged artist who went on to end his own life, which is what I used to believe too. In reality, he was just a sweet and misunderstood man who was also kind for his own good.
It’s good to question everything you come across on the internet. Like how teachers always told us, read a few more articles and don’t just form an opinion based on one single source because iT’s NoT ReLIAbLe. But actually, take your time because there are no rewards for being the first to come to a conclusion. While on the other hand, when you spend time to inform yourself about the subject, not only will you be more educated, but you’ll also have a well-supported conclusion and get that big brain.
Almond Blossoms
(Courtesy of VG Gallery)
Without people like Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, we wouldn’t have a whole other perspective into the mystery of Van Gogh’s death because most of us would’ve been okay with believing that the artist committed suicide. Without the spark of new ideas and the constant disagreement between those ideas, the world would not be an exciting place, because believing the same boring thing, is, well, boring.
Citations:
https://www.biography.com/artist/vincent-van-gogh
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/van-gogh-the-church-at-auvers-pg-reproductions.html
http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0779.htm
https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/bank-oise-auvers-46068
http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0779.htm
