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Copyright 2016 Bernadette Murphy

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Murphy, Bernadette, author

Van Goghs Ear: The True Story / Bernadette Murphy

ISBN9780345816054

Ebook ISBN9780345816078

Cover painting: Self Portrait, 1887 by Vincent van Gogh, courtesy of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

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In honour of my parents, who, despite having eight children, gave me the precious gift of their time my mother by teaching me to read before I started school and my father by taking me to a public library and, more importantly, showing me how to use it.

As, painfully to pore upon a book To seek the light of truth, while truth the while Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look.William Shakespeare, Act 1, scene i, Loves Labours Lost

Contents

Illustrations

All drawings and paintings are by Vincent van Gogh unless otherwise stated.

Cover and Endpapers

Cover

Detail from Self-Portrait , Paris, March to June 1887 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Endpapers

Photograph of place Lamartine, Arles ( Private Collection); detail from The Yellow House (The Street) , Arles, September 1888 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation); detail from Caf Terrace at Night (place du Forum) , Arles, September 1888 ( Rijksmuseum Kroller-Mller, October)

Black and white illustrations

Arles seen from the Wheatfields , late July 1888 ( akg-images/CDA/Guillemot)

Cutting from Le Forum Rpublicain newspaper, 30 December 1888 ( Mdiathque Municipale de la ville dArles)

Arles from the air, photo taken at 9.55 a.m. on 25 June 1944 by 455th Bomb Group, US Air Force ( Air Force Historical Research Agency, AFB, Maxwell Alabama)

The Yellow House, 2, place Lamartine, Arles, 25 June 1944 ( Muse de la Camargue)

Aerial reconnaissance photo Arles 1919 ( Photothque, lInstitut National de lInformation Gographique et Forestire)

Vincent van Gogh, 1871 ( akg-images)

Theo van Gogh, c .1889 ( akg-images)

The Yellow House, 2, place Lamartine, Gustave Coquiot, 1922

Vincent van Gogh on his deathbed , Dr Paul Gachet, 29 July 1890 ( Bridgeman Images)

Tiled roof with chimney and church tower , Arles, 1888 ( Private Collection)

Map of Arles, drawn up by Auguste Vran, 1867 ( Mdiathque dArles)

Arlsiennes in traditional dress, 1909 ( Private Collection)

Postcard of the place du Forum, c .1910

Sketch of the Yellow House in Letter 602, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 1 May 1888 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Photograph of Paul Gauguin in his studio on rue Vandamme, 1891 (modern print Muse Maurice Denis, Saint-Germain-en-Laye)

Public garden and pond in front of the Yellow House , late April 1888 ( akg-images)

La Mousm , Arles, late July 1888 ( Private Collection)

Letter 706, Vincent van Gogh to Paul Gauguin, 17 October 1888 ( Pierpoint Morgan Library, New York)

Paul Gauguins list of words in his sketchbook, pp. 2201 ( The Israel Museum, Jerusalem)

Mystre, drawing in Paul Gauguins sketchbook, p. 171, c.24 December 1888 ( The Israel Museum, Jerusalem)

Joseph dOrnano, drawings in Paul Gauguins sketchbook, pp. 223, 24 December 1888 ( The Israel Museum, Jerusalem)

Illustration of Vincent van Goghs ear from the article Vincent van Gogh et le drame de loreille coupe, Edgar Leroy and Victor Doiteau, 1936, Aesculape , Paris ( Leroy family)

Signature of Dr Flix Rey on the prescription form, 1930; signature of Dr Flix Rey on a medical report, 1912 ( Archives Communales dArles)

Vincent van Goghs ear, Dr Flix Rey, drawn for Irving Stone, 18 August 1930 ( Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)

Reverend Frdric Salles, c .1890 ( Private Collection)

Photograph of the cabanon at Htel-Dieu Saint-Esprit, Arles, 1955

Bandaging a head wound, Sir William Watson Cheyne, Antiseptic Surgery: Its Principles, Practice, History and Results (Smith, Elder and Co., London: 1882) ( The Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh)

The Arles petition, late February 1889 ( Archives Communales dArles)

Signature of Joseph Marie Ginoux from the Police Inquiry, early March 1889; signature of Joseph Marie Ginoux from his marriage certificate, 7 February 1866; signature of Joseph Gion, Arles Petition, late February 1889 (1866 Marriage registers, Ptition Documentation Archives Communales dArles)

Illustration of spiral nebulae , William Parsons, 3rd Earl Rosse, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Royal Society Publications, London: 1861) ( The Royal Society)

Chair and sketch of a hand , Saint-Rmy, MarchApril 1890 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

The Sower , Arles, August 1889 ( akg-images)

Colour illustrations

Insert

The Yellow House (The Street) , Arles, September 1888 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/Bridgeman Images)

Marie Ginoux (The Arlsienne) Arles, 1888 or 1889 ( Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/Bridgeman Images)

Joseph Roulin , Arles, Spring 1889 ( The Barnes Foundation, Merion)

Flix Rey , Arles, January 1889 ( Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow)

Patience Escalier (The Peasant) , Arles, August 1888 ( Private Collection)

The Night Caf , September 1888 ( Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut)

Les Alyscamps (Leaf Fall) , late October, Arles, 1888 ( KrllerMller Museum, Otterlo)

Orchard in Blossom with a View of Arles , April 1889 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/akg-images)

Fishing Boats at Sea , Arles, MayJune 1888 ( akg-images)

Self-Portrait with Portrait of mile Bernard (Les Misrables) , Pont-Aven, Paul Gauguin, September 1888 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/Bridgeman Images)

Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers , Arles, Paul Gauguin, late Novemberearly December 1888 ( Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/ Bridgeman Images)

Arlsiennes (Mistral) , Arles, Paul Gauguin, December 1888 ( Art Institute of Chicago/Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection/Bridgeman Images)

The Brothel , Arles, November 1888 ( The Barnes Foundation, Merion)

Augustine Roulin (La Berceuse) , Arles, January 1889 ( Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Bequest of John T. Spaulding/Bridgeman Images)

La Vie Passionne de Vincent van Gogh , the Lust for Life film poster in France, director Vincente Minelli, MGM, 1956 ( Bridgeman Images)

Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe , Arles, 1889 ( Private Collection)

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