Dans Van Gogh's Ear, Bernadette Murphy nous emmène dans un voyage extraordinaire, des grands musées aux archives oubliées, en reconstruisant de manière vivante le monde de Van Gogh. Nous rencontrons des inspecteurs de police et des clients de cafés, des prostituées et des madames, son frère bien-aimé Theo et son collègue peintre Paul Gauguin. Pourquoi Van Gogh a-t-il commis un acte aussi brutal? Qui était la mystérieuse 'Rachel' à qui il a présenté son cadeau macabre? A-t-il vraiment retiré toute son oreille? Murphy répond à ces questions par ses découvertes troublantes, offrant un portrait saisissant d'un artiste qui se dirige vers la folie dans sa quête de l'excellence.
On a dark night in Provence in December 1888 Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. It is an act that has come to define him. Yet for more than a century biographers and historians seeking definitive facts about what happened that night have been left with more questions than answers. In Van Gogh''s Ear Bernadette Murphy sets out to discover exactly what happened that night in Arles. Why would an artist at the height of his powers commit such a brutal act? Who was the mysterious ''Rachel'' to whom he presented his macabre gift? Was it just his lobe, or did Van Gogh really cut off his entire ear? Her investigation takes us from major museums to the dusty contents of forgotten archives, vividly reconstructing the world in which Van Gogh moved - the madams and prostitutes, cafe patrons and police inspectors, his beloved brother Theo and his fellow artist and house-guest Paul Gauguin. With exclusive revelations and new research about the ear and about ''Rachel'', Bernadette Murphy proposes a bold new hypothesis about what was occurring in Van Gogh''s heart and mind as he made a mysterious delivery to her doorstep that fateful night. Van Gogh''s Ear is a compelling detective story and a journey of discovery. It is also a portrait of a painter creating his most iconic and revolutionary work, pushing himself ever closer to greatness even as he edged towards madness - and one fateful sweep of the blade that would resonate through the ages.
