Suicide

Abstract

Late Sunday afternoon, July 27, 1890, Vincent van Gogh shot himself with a borrowed revolver, and returned with difficulty to his room at the Café- Auberge Ravoux, in Auvers-sur-Oise. He died about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 29. During the interval he was interviewed by several people including the proprietor Ravoux, Drs. Mazery and Gachet, local policemen, and his brother Theo; all of whom discovered very little worth reporting. Ravoux claimed that the revolver was his and had been borrowed by Vincent to “chase crows.” The gendarmes were more tiresome than investigative and were dismissed by Ravoux, after Vincent declared that his body was his own to do with as he liked. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Vincent told Dr. Gachet that he would have to do it again if they pulled him through. All of the foregoing supports the notion that Vincent intended to take his own life, but by putting the bullet in his abdomen, rather than his head or heart, he seemingly bungled a rapid demise. Why he did this some distance from his domicile, and why he elected to stagger home rather than use another bullet, are among the many questions that remain unanswered.

To die quietly of old age would be to go there on foot. Vincent to Theo, letter 506, from Arles, July, 1888.