DR IRVING KAUFMAN ARENBERG : KILLING VINCENT : THE MAN, THE MYTH AND THE MURDER

This book with a tantalising hook, is a summation  of his decades-long research  into Van Gogh’s death, which argues that the artist was murdered by Dr. Gachet, the semi-prominent homoeopathic  doctor who treated his melancholia  and collected ( sometimes selling) his art. The two men often quarrelled  in a ‘friendship’ that freely mixed work, medication,  investments, and patronage,  but the author  thinks it was Van Gogh’s affair  with Gachet’s daughter  that effectively  sealed the artist’s fate.

As much as Van Gogh’s death itself remains a matter of conjecture, there exists enough testimonial evidence  about his physical  and mental  afflictions, mostly coming from Van Gogh’s incessant complaints about various  symptoms  of diseases that filled his letters, for enthusiastic  medical scholars  to publish diagnosis  after diagnosis  in medical journals attempting to account  for the dead artist’s bizarre behaviours,  physical distress,  and mood shifts. I admit the book is a wonderful  journey with Dr. Arenberg. The reader is in good company; his family,  friends, doctors,  and lovers. Any one of them could be his killer. The artist’s last three days are explored in minute detail. He came home to Ravoux Inn with a belly wound from an alleged gunshot, climbing  the 17 steps to his garrot room. He died 30 hours later in the arms of his brother Theo.

The authoritative  results of Dr. Arenberg’s forensic activities  bolster the murder theory. The common myth that prevailed for over 100 years, is that the “mad” artist shot himself  in a wheat field after suffering from years of unhappiness and “insanity”. But can that be true?   KILLING VINCENT is meant as a historical analysis  and expose of the most dastardly  murder of Van Gogh  and the nefarious cover up  of the world’s  most iconic artist’s death.  What amounts to the biggest cold case in the annals  of the art world.  The book attempts  to explore all possible  scenarios,  no matter how unlikely  or likely, how relevant  or irrelevant  they may appear to be to this cold case at first glance.  When there’s  so many possible  dot connecting, sometimes  the truth is more unbelievable  than the reality it discloses.

Was it a result of premeditated  murder and extensive cover-up, or somehow the result of foul play by villagers  who taunted and accidentally  wounded the excitable artist. The gun that Vincent  allegedly used to end his own life recently sold for $182,000 at auction.  But Dr. Irvin Arenberg  smells a conspiracy  about “Van Goghs”, all the way to the top. However tenuous  its link to Van Gogh’s death, the gun sale and the sheer enormity of the sum, provides reason enough for scholars  and hobbyists  to revisit long-standing disputes about how the renowned  post-impressionist ended up dead, and various shadowy figures that may have or may not have been involved.

As much as Van Gogh’s death remains a matter of conjecture,  there is enough testimonial evidence  about his physical  and mental afflictions coming mostly from Vincent’s complaints. The Dutch eccentric  had bipolar disorder,  glaucoma, a Terpene craving that made him consume his paints, digitalis intoxication,  drinking problems and lonliness. Dr. Arenberg  contributed a 1990 diagnosis  of ear disease,  Menier’s disease, not Epilepsy.  There was not a description  of carbon-black gunpowder  burn. No one saw the act or heard the gunshot. There was no suicide note and no autopsy.  Somethings just don’t compute. 

No bullet was found, leaving one to speculate that that it may still be in his remains or his casket. A riveting  mystery of a read.