‘Mental illness is not a joke’: London gallery under fire for Van Gogh gifts

Van Gogh’s sunflower soap, ‘for the tortured artist who enjoys fluffy bubbles’. Photograph: The Unemployed Philosophers Guild

Vincent van Gogh is perhaps equally famous for his sunflowers and his act of self-mutilation. Apart from his paintings, when people think of the artist, they also think of his ear – or lack of it.

But references to Van Gogh’s missing ear, and mental health, in souvenirs on sale at the Courtauld Gallery in London have attracted criticism.