This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 13 August 2016.
The Mystery of Van
Gogh’s Ear:
Saturday, BBC Two
An Hour to Save Your
Life: Tuesday, BBC Two
The
story of Vincent Van Gogh severing part of his ear as a perversely romantic
gesture is almost as famous as his immortal body of work. According to legend,
the emotionally fragile artist turned up at the door of a Provence brothel in
1888, and handed a package containing a bloody slice of his own lobe to one of
the working girls.
It’s
a sad, shocking story. But did it actually happen? As revealed in The Mystery of Van Gogh’s Ear,
contemporary newspaper reports were suspiciously inconsistent when it came to
details. Surely there must be accurate archive medical and police reports
pertaining to the most notorious incident in the history of modern art?
Intrigued
by this murky mystery, art lover Bernadette Murphy embarked on a seven-year
mission to uncover the truth. A nice middle-aged lady with a snazzy line in
neckerchiefs, the Provence-based adventures of this tenacious amateur sleuth are
a Sunday night detective drama just waiting to happen: Vera meets Lovejoy.
Hosted
by that other great tortured artist, Jeremy Paxman, in full-blown quizzical
gravitas mode (honestly, you sometimes have to wonder if he’s even heard of
Chris Morris), this engaging documentary managed to sustain its central
conceit, even though the results of Murphy’s investigation recently hit the
headlines. The journey was just as interesting as the final destination.
Murphy
uncovered several hitherto unknown facts. “Rachel”, the object of Van Gogh’s
affections, wasn’t a prostitute after all. She worked at the brothel as a
cleaner. It’s possible that, as the victim of a rabid dog attack, she was one
of the “wounded angels” with whom Van Gogh felt such empathy.
After
poring through research by the author of the Van Gogh biopic starring Kirk
Douglas, Murphy finally unearthed a conclusive medical diagram by the doctor who
treated Van Gogh post-injury.
The
great man didn’t just cut off his lobe, he severed his entire ear.
Understandably,
Murphy was reduced to tears. Not only had she solved a mystery that’s eluded
experts for over a century, she’d exposed the harrowing depths of a deeply
troubled soul.
The
programme also reinforced an inescapable point: uniquely among artists, our
appreciation of Van Gogh’s work is intrinsically fused with our knowledge of
his tragic personal life. He quite unwittingly forged the dubiously
romanticised notion that genius and self-destruction are automatic bedfellows. While
I understand the impulse to believe that – I include Brian Wilson and Peter
Sellers among my heroes - it makes me feel uncomfortable.
Then
again, would Van Gogh have created his masterpieces if he hadn’t been mentally
ill? It’s a conundrum that even Jeremy Paxman can’t unravel.
The
trauma continued in the latest series of An
Hour to Save Your Life, in which cameras follow paramedics and doctors as
they make critical decisions on behalf of accident victims.
Like
most medical documentaries, it’s essentially a form of rubber-necking
voyeurism. Yet despite its manipulative bombast – with its ticking clock
graphics and split-screen technique, the production team are blatantly
influenced by 24 - it does highlight
the unflappable professionalism of people who hold lives in the balance on a
daily basis.
All
at once, it makes you value your wellbeing, worry about the freak fragility of
existence, feel humbled in the presence of those who make a difference, and resent
the fact that you’ve done nothing worthwhile with your life.
Marginally less
troubling than The One Show, it’s an
existential minefield.
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