有关于梵高那只被剃须刀片割掉的耳朵，自古便广泛流传着甚多版本。这些传闻，我们大多是道听途说，偶尔也会看到研究者又有了新的推论。然而在百年后的今天，一切都是猜测而已，当时的纠结与爱恨早已随着时间灰飞烟灭。如今能留给我们观赏和玩味的，恐怕也只有悬挂在博物馆中的画布上，大师们留下的五彩斑斓与点点戳?戳。
梵高耳朵的故事，坊间虽有着不同解读，而其中必须提及的关键词一定会有法国后印象派画家高更（Paul Gauguin）、法国的阿尔镇（Arles）和妓女。
版本一：阿尔镇与高更
1888年，梵高开启了他短暂艺术生命中，或许可以说是最为重要的一个时期。离开巴黎，来到法国的南方小镇阿尔，他在拉马丁广场边租下了“黄房子”的两个房间，一间自己用，一间留给了他的好友和老师高更。在满心期待高更到来的期间，梵高为他们二人购置了两张卧床，同时，他更是满腔热情地在十二块墙壁镶板上画满了各式各样的向日葵。梵高在那样短暂的时间内创作出了《向日葵》、《夜晚露天咖啡馆》、《梵高的卧室》等杰作。
When Gauguin agreed to visit Arles, Van Gogh hoped for friendship and for his utopian idea of a collective of artists. In anticipation, that August he painted sunflowers. In preparation for Gauguin's visit, Van Gogh bought two beds, on advice from his friend Joseph Roulin, whose portrait he painted, and on 17 September spent the first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House.During the brief time he waited for Gauguin’s visit, he created masterpieces such as, Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers；Cafe Terrace at Night ；Bedroom in Arles. When Gauguin consented to work and live side-by-side in Arles with Van Gogh, he started to work on The Yellow House, probably the most ambitious effort he ever undertook.
同年10月份，在高更终于抵达了阿尔镇，同梵高一起画画的最初几周之内，二人一同作画，一切都显得是那样与世无争。出于对高更的崇拜和敬仰，梵高对高更言听计从，不过他也盼望能够从高更那里得到更加平等的对待。可是高更一直以指导者的姿态，不断批评和指责梵高。渐渐地，二人因对艺术的不同见解开始爆发激烈的争吵，他们的友谊濒临破灭。1888年即将结束时，梵高强烈地感受到，高更即将抛弃自己，离开阿尔。失去高更，在梵高看来，也许意味着失去所有，梵高开始变得抑郁不?安。
After repeated requests, Gauguin finally arrived in Arles on 23 October. During November, the two painted together. Gauguin painted Van Gogh's portrait The Painter of Sunflowers: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, and—uncharacteristically—Van Gogh painted some pictures from memory (deferring to Gauguin's ideas in this) as well as his The Red Vineyard. but their relationship began to deteriorate. Van Gogh greatly admired Gauguin, and desperately wanted to be treated as his equal, but Gauguin was arrogant and domineering, a fact that often frustrated Van Gogh. They quarreled fiercely about art; Van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, as a situation he described as one of "excessive tension" reached crisis point.
1888年12月，在高更不断的冷嘲热讽以及无法接受高更要离开自己的现实的驱使下，心魔击垮了梵高。他叫嚷着说要杀掉高更，更在高更收拾行囊躲到附近的小旅馆之后，用剃刀亲手割掉了自己的左耳（亦或仅仅是耳垂，此处也是对于此事件有争议的一点。）随后，梵高更是疯癫了一般，拿着自己的耳朵去了一个他和高更经常造访的妓院，把血淋淋的耳朵送给了一名他熟识的妓女。事件的主角之一高更对此却有不同的说辞，他表示梵高将那个耳朵留给了门卫并说这耳朵是要留给自己的纪念品。
By 23 December 1888, van Gogh had realized that Gauguin was proposing to leave and that there had been some kind of contretemps between the two. That evening, van Gogh severed his left ear (either wholly or in part; accounts differ) with a razor, inducing a severe haemorrhage. He bandaged his wound, wrapped the ear in paper, and delivered the package to a brothel frequented by both him and Gauguin, before returning home and collapsing. He was found unconscious the next day by the policeand taken to hospital. The local newspaper reported that van Gogh had given the ear to a prostitute with an instruction to guard it carefully.
In Gauguin's later account, he implies that—in fact—van Gogh had left the ear with the doorman as a memento for Gauguin.
版本二：这是高更干的！
时间倒回至梵高察觉到高更即将弃他而去的时候，在他们经常一同前往作画的妓院门口，两人为了争抢一名妓女大打出手。高更在这个过程中用利剑砍下了梵高的耳朵。为了让高更躲过牢狱之灾，梵高向警方谎称这耳朵是自己割下的。
此处又存有另一种解释，讲的是高更为了躲避责任，向警察编造了梵高自己割掉耳朵的谎言。而此时的梵高精神已经开始失常，并没有为自己进行任何的辩驳。是的，这有关于梵高耳朵的故事，竟是如此的扑朔迷离，令人心生困惑。
左耳还是右耳？
梵高被割下的究竟是左耳还是右耳也同样存在着争议。没错，看过那幅梵高叼着烟斗，右耳包扎着纱布的自画像后，我们都会认为被割掉的是右耳。然而也有人解释到，由于梵高是对着镜子完成的这幅自画像，所以画中的景象自然是和现实相反，也就是说，被割掉的是他的左耳。是非真假，我们早已无从得知。
梵高的生命停在了37岁这样一个年纪，对他来说却又是那样残破的年岁。生前无人问津，死后却辉煌荣耀。如在《文森特》中唱的那样：现在我终于明白你想对我倾诉什么，你的心智是怎样饱受折磨，又如何竭力的摆脱这种痛苦 。但是人们不会听，更不会懂。
梵高画向日葵，面朝阳光，金黄色的向日葵。遗憾的是，梵高的一生鲜有被阳光温柔地照耀过。但愿如今的你我，能透过他画笔下的向日葵，轻轻地触摸到他所散发出的如火焰般浓烈的光芒。
Vocabulary Time
ambitious adj.野心勃勃的
anticipation n. 预想，期望
arrogant adj.自大傲慢的
brothel n. 妓院
consent v.&n.赞成，同意
contretemps n.意外事故
desperately adv.绝望地，极度地
deteriorate v.恶化
domineering adj. 盛气凌人的
haemorrhage n.出血
memento n.纪念品
sanity n.精神健全
unconscious adj.无意识的
utopian adj.&n. 乌托邦的；空想家
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