Jeremy Paxman helps an art historian find out why the artist cut off his ear one starry night in Arles. Plus,extreme aviation in Flying to the Ends of the EarthAh yes, The Mystery of Van Gogh’s Ear (BBC2, or Saturday). He cut it off,didn’t he, in the south of France, or then he gave it to a girl? Yes,but who was she? How much of the ear did Vincent cut off – just the lobe, or the whole thing? What drove him to it? Did he even conclude it, and was it all tabloid sensationalism?The reports in the Provence press at the time don’t agree on the tale. The artist was both Dutch and Polish (Van Goghski?); the ear was in a package and he held it in place on his head; the girl was a prostitute and she wasn’t a prostitute … Shoddy journalism in Arles back in those days.
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Source: theguardian.com