Sketch offers evidence Van Gogh cut off almost all his ear

Until now, that is.

A close-up view of the letter by Dr. Felix Rey about the ear of Vincent van Gogh is displayed as part of the exhibition ‘On the Verge of Insanity.

The letter from Dr Rey can be now seen for the first time at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in an exhibition, entitled, On The Verge Of Insanity.

A visitor walks past an image of Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait during a press event for the Meet Vincent Van Gogh exhibit in Beijing, China.

A reproduction of the Rey sketch, done on a prescription pad, is featured in Murphy’s book, Van Gogh’s Ear, which was published Tuesday.

Her research has also shed more light on “Rachel” – the woman who Van Gogh had handed his severed ear to with the words “keep this object carefully”.

And “Rachel” wasn’t a prostitute but in fact a maid at the brothel in Arles, southern France named “Gabrielle”, where she worked to pay off her medical bills after being savaged by a rabid dog.

Ms Murphy, who spent seven years cross-referencing records from the period to find “Gabrielle”, believes he may have been offering her his flesh in a weird attempt to help heal her. “I feel that he wanted to give her this gift of flesh”, Murphy told the Daily Telegraph.

According to The Globe and Mail, the event – the aftermath of which is portrayed in van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” – was the subject of much debate among scholars, most of whom believed van Gogh had chopped off just a small part of his earlobe. During their visit, Rey sketched an illustration of the injury van Gogh inflicted on his left ear on December 23, 1888, a wound that Rey treated a day later after police found van Gogh and brought him to the hospital, reports the BBC.

Also, Van Gogh didn’t send the ear to a girlfriend. This would also explain why Van Gogh, who shot himself in the chest, was able to get back to the hostel where he was staying and died two days later.

“Although we know a great deal about Van Gogh, it is obviously no longer possible to question or examine the patient himself”. The full story is in the book Van Gogh’s Ear: The True Story by British author Bernadette Murphy.

“This investigation has been an incredible adventure and discovering the document was an extraordinary moment”.

“It is impossible to say with 100 percent certainty”, Teio Meedendorp of the Van Gogh Museum acknowledged to NOS.

“Its limited firepower offers a possible explanation for why the bullet fired at such close range glanced off Van Gogh’s ribcage”, said the Van Gogh Museum, where the weapon, previously part of a private collection, goes on display.