Van Gogh -- murdered? Holy merde!

wfgodot

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NCIS: Provence: The Van Gogh Mystery (Vanity Fair)

For many decades, suicide was the unquestioned final chapter of Vincent van Gogh’s legend. But in their 2011 book, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith offered a far more plausible scenario—that Van Gogh was killed—only to find themselves under attack. Now, with the help of a leading forensic expert, the authors take their case a step further.

A lone figure tramps toward a field of golden wheat. He carries a canvas, an easel, a bag of paints, and a pained grimace. He sets up his kit and begins to paint furiously, rushing to capture the scene of the swirling wheat as a storm approaches. Murderous crows attack him. He flails them away. As the wind whips the wheat into a frenzy, he races to add the ominous clouds to his canvas. Then the threatening crows. When he looks up, his eyes bug out with madness. He goes to a tree and scribbles a note: “I am desperate. I see no way out.” Gritting his teeth in torment, he reaches into his pocket. Cut to a long shot of the wheat field churning in the storm. The sudden report of a gun startles a passing cart driver. The music swells. “The End” appears against a mosaic of famous paintings and a climactic crash of cymbals.
•••

Van Gogh was MURDERED, says forensic expert: Doubt cast on long-held belief that the artist shot himself.

⁍ Forensics expert says Vincent van Gogh could not have shot himself
⁍ Dr Vincent di Maio said evidence suggests he was killed by someone else
⁍ Historians believe van Gogh shot himself in a wheat field outside Paris
⁍ But the painter could not have held the gun at such close range to his body
⁍ Even if he could, there would have been scorch marks on his hands
⁍ Mystery remains over who fired revolver which killed the troubled painter
⁍ Some say a group of boys killed van Gogh by accident and he took blame

^^ Daily Mail. Story at links above.
 
I think I will choose to believe it was a tragic accident. I prefer not to think he killed himself, now that there is some/possible evidence otherwise.
 
I remember reading about this a few years ago.I always wondered why he would shoot himself while painting,didn't make sense.
 
After reading the linked article and the Vanity Fair piece, murder or accidental shooting do seem plausible. It doesnt make sense that he would shoot himself while painting in the wheat field, then walk a mile back to his room. The location of the wound also makes it difficult to imagine him shooting himself.

In the end, though, there are no investigstion or autopsy reports to help in drawing a conclusion, so it seems we'll never know exactly what happened.
 
As I gaze at a print of one of Vincent's paintings hanging on my living room wall, one that I never tire of looking at, I think to myself, "How wonderful. That supremely talented man did NOT kill himself!"
 
Don McLean's a bit maudlin for my taste -- and here he endorses the (probable) old suicide canard -- yet methinks we're just now due for A MUSICAL INTERLUDE!

[video=youtu;nkvLq0TYiwI]http://youtu.be/nkvLq0TYiwI[/video]
 
why would he try to protect boys who 'accidently' shot him?
 
As I gaze at a print of one of Vincent's paintings hanging on my living room wall, one that I never tire of looking at, I think to myself, "How wonderful. That supremely talented man did NOT kill himself!"
Of course the supremacy/genius is often a key factor behind the isolation and desperation present in taking one's own life. Van Gogh was known to be depressed and mentally disturbed so the suicide was never far-fetched.

Whether by suicide or murder, VVG's end was a tragedy.
 
I listened to about 5 seconds of that song. Why, Godot?
 
^^^Because godot has good taste.

Don MacLean's "Starry, Starry Night" regularly appears on lists of the 100 best songs of the 20th century (along with his even more popular "American Pie"). It was actually a monster hit, which many of us still love.
 

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