Did Van Gogh cut off his ear because of tinnitus?
The most widely accepted account is that van Gogh cut off his ear lobe in a fit of mania after getting in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and then gave it to a prostitute named Rachel as a token of affection.
JAMA. 1990 Jul 25;264(4):491-3.
Eric Clapton
Rock and roll star Eric Clapton is often referred to as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. On his way to worldwide fame, Clapton overcame various personal obstacles including tinnitus, most likely caused by years of exposure to loud live music concerts and studio time.
From the International Meniere's Disease Research Institute of the Colorado Neurologic Institute and Swedish Medical Center, Englewood (Drs Arenberg and Bernstein and Ms Countryman); and Shambaugh Hearing & Allergy PC, Hinsdale, III (Dr Shambaugh).
Vincent van Gogh took his own life in July 1890. He felt he couldn't go on. The immense demands he made of himself, his obsessive labour, his mental illness and, not least, his changing relationship with his brother had all become too much. Vincent wrote to Theo: 'I feel – a failure.
After Murphy's discovery, the Van Gogh Museum's authoritative website on the artist's letters states that he “did indeed cut off his entire ear”.
Though van Gogh was diagnosed with epilepsy in his lifetime, doctors and historians believe the artist may have also lived with: bipolar disorder. borderline personality disorder (BPD) substance use disorder (SUD)
No cure exists for Meniere's disease. Some treatments can help lessen how bad vertigo attacks are and how long they last. But there are no treatments for permanent hearing loss. Your health care provider may be able to suggest treatments that prevent your hearing loss from getting worse.
Yasmeen Cooper and Mark Agius have suggested that Van Gogh suffered from schizoaffective disorder; bipolar type, due to his bouts of psychosis, mania, and major depression.
A device resembling an hearing aid was placed in Shatner's damaged right ear. So-called white sound is beamed (so to speak) into his ear, greatly reducing the chronic ringing. "We have an 80-percent success rate," Mattox said. About 800 people have been treated here.
Does Keanu Reeves have tinnitus?
Actor and all-around breathtakingly great guy Keanu Reeves also suffers from tinnitus in his left ear. Luckily he has mentioned in interviews that he is no longer bothered by it anymore, leaving him more time to chase down anyone who hurts his dog.
Barbra Streisand
She's not sure what caused it, but the ringing in her ears came on abruptly while she was at school and hasn't gone away since. She waited for years to see an audiologist about her problem because she was afraid to find out what the problem was.

Van Gogh expresses the night sky's haunting beauty as seen from his window at the psychiatric facility, and, in my mind, incorporates and communicates his intense interior state (both emotional and mental), most likely due to a bipolar condition.
Wheatfield with Crows and the Wheat Field sketch from letter 902 both date to July 1890. Letter 902, written on July 23 1890, is the last found letter written by van Gogh, who died on July 29 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise.
He began to suffer hallucination and have thoughts of suicide as he plunged into depression. Accordingly, there was a tonal shift in his work. He returned to incorporating the darker colors from the beginning of his career and Starry Night is a wonderful example of that shift.
Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear when tempers flared with Paul Gauguin, the artist with whom he had been working for a while in Arles. Van Gogh's illness revealed itself: he began to hallucinate and suffered attacks in which he lost consciousness. During one of these attacks, he used the knife.
Van Gogh suffered a breakdown and cut off his ear after receiving a letter informing him that his brother Theo was getting married, says art expert Martin Bailey in his book,"Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence." "It was fear that pulled the trigger and led to the breakdown," Bailey told CNN in an interview.
A new study claims that Vincent van Gogh was malnourished, sleep deprived, and mentally ill, but was ultimately pushed to extremes by alcohol addiction, cutting off his ear during a psychotic episode fueled by alcohol withdrawal.
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Famous American businessman, naval aviator, test pilot, and astronaut Alan Shepard was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease and the professional golfer Tim Conley. Even renowned writers and artists such as Emily Dickinson, Vincent Van Gogh, and Aaron Reiser have had to cope with the condition.
What celebrities have menieres disease?
- Aaron Reiser - artist.
- Alan Shepard.
- Andrew Knight.
- Brian Evans - university administrator.
- Chris Potter - saxophonist and band leader.
- Dan Carlson - journalist.
- Dana Davis.
- Dana White.
Tony and Emmy Award Winner Kristin Chenoweth is one of Broadway's most vibrant and positive stars, but many may not know that she has quietly fought a personal battle with Meniere's disease, a disorder that affects the inner ear.
Van Gogh, moreover, did not suffer from dementia, as can be seen from his writings and paintings right up until the end of his life. He did not show the symptoms of general paralysis, a well-known pathology at the time, or any signs of tabes.
Shatner isn't the only star to have suffered from tinnitus - The Who's Pete Townshend, Barbra Streisand and fellow Star Trek veteran Leonard Nimoy have also fought the hearing condition.
There is no cure for tinnitus because tinnitus is not actually an illness in and of itself. Rather, it is a symptom of other hearing health issues like noise damage or age-related hearing loss. It can also be caused by various health uses and certain medications.
Tinnitus is not a permanent condition, and in many cases, it will go away entirely by itself. For most people, tinnitus will disappear after a few weeks, or even a few days depending on the possible causes behind it.
Bob Dylan. Suffers from tinnitus after a highly successful and extensive career in the music industry. He is one of the most high-profile names on the planet to be affected by ringing in the eras.
The guitarist Eric Clapton, also known by the nickname "Slowhand", suffers from both hearing loss and tinnitus. Since his roles in the bands Cream, The Yardbirds, and Derek and the Dominos, Clapton has been a three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has won eighteen Grammy awards.
A paired t-test showed that in Group A, patients with Vitamin B12 deficiency showed significant improvement in mean tinnitus severity index score and visual analog scale (VAS) after Vitamin B12 therapy.
There is currently no cure for tinnitus, but it can be effectively managed with hearing aids, behavioral therapy and/or sound therapy depending on the individual.
Do people with tinnitus live long?
While it has no clear cure or cause, it affects millions of people in the world on some level and can be challenging to cope with. Thankfully, it's entirely possible to live a normal life even with tinnitus.
Electrical and Magnetic Stimulation of the Ear
A June 2022 study used electrical stimulation of the ear and showed a 79% improvement rate in tinnitus symptoms. There were no negative side effects. The treatment was non-invasive, meaning no surgery was required.
Earlier in his life, van Gogh experienced two prolonged episodes of reactive depression. Both episodes were followed by a prolonged period of hypomanic or even manic behavior: first as evangelist to the poor miners in Belgium and then as the quarrelsome and overly talkative artist in exciting Paris.
The circumstances in which Van Gogh cut off his ear are not exactly known, but many experts believe that it was following a furious row with Gauguin at the Yellow House. Afterwards, Van Gogh allegedly packaged up the ear and gave it to a prostitute in a nearby brothel. He was then admitted to a hospital in Arles.
Van Gogh suffered a breakdown and cut off his ear after receiving a letter informing him that his brother Theo was getting married, says art expert Martin Bailey in his book,"Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence." "It was fear that pulled the trigger and led to the breakdown," Bailey told CNN in an interview.
This has led others to have different ideas about what might have taken place. Rather than an epileptic seizure accidentally causing him to cut his ear, or a fit a lunacy causing a madman to harm himself, others believe that perhaps the eccentric artist, Paul Gauguin is actually the culprit.
Pablo Picasso did not cut off his own ear or anyone else's. He died with both ears intact. Artist Vincent van Gogh may have cut off part of one of his ears, or it may have been cut during an argument. Van Gogh lived from 1853 to 1890, so he died when Picasso was just a child.
Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear when tempers flared with Paul Gauguin, the artist with whom he had been working for a while in Arles.
He never married or had children.
In the early 1880s, when he was starting out as an artist and living with his parents in the Netherlands, he fell in love with his widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker.
This one's easy: no, Vincent didn't have any children.
Where is Vincent van Gogh's ear now?
The recipient of Vincent van Gogh's ear has been named almost 130 years after the artist cut it off in Paris. The Art Newspaper reported that after the incident on 23 December 1888, Van Gogh gave it to a young woman named Gabrielle Berlatier.
On 27 July 1890, in a field near Auvers, Vincent shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died two days later, with his brother Theo at his bedside.