Two paintings both titled 'Self-Portrait' are hung side-by-side at the Courtauld Gallery
(Picture: Matt Crossick/PA Wire)A Vincent van Gogh exhibition is under fire for selling gifts branded ‘insensitive’ to the mental illness that plagued the great artist throughout his life.
15 of Van Gogh’s self-portraits - including his infamous self-portrait with bandaged ear after he cut it off - are on display at the Courtauld Gallery, in Somerset House.
But some visitors came away with a nasty taste in their mouths after seeing gifts that they branded “insensitive” to mental health that lead the artist to eventually commit suicide by pistol in 1890.
The gift shop range includes a straw hat and painter’s coat similar to those the icon wore, as well as sunflower socks, scarfs, and seeds.
But an ear-shaped rubber eraser costing £6, attracted criticism for mocking van Gogh’s self-mutilation after fighting a fellow artist Paul Gauguin.
After the argument van Gogh began to hallucinate, lose consciousness but managed to use a knife to cut off his left ear. He could later recall nothing about the event.
Charles Thomson, a co-founder of the Stuckist group of artists, said: “Suicide is not a joke and mental illness is not a joke.”
“This is shallow, nasty and insensitive,” he told the Mail on Sunday. “What next? Van Gogh’s suicide pistol?”
imagine having a historic mental breakdown and cutting your ear off then years later it’s sold as an eraser pic.twitter.com/C6TirXihZg
— Rob N Roll (@thegallowboob) October 30, 2021
Visitors can also buy a £5 bar of soap, marketed as ideal for “the tortured artist who enjoys fluffy bubbles”.
An “emotional first aid kit”, priced at £16, is described as “a box of wise emergency advice for 20 key psychological situations”.
The exhibition itself includes a murky self-portrait given by van Gogh to friends in Arles with much of the paint on the face scraped off.
He described it as “an attempt from when I was ill” as he emerged briefly from the depths of a mental health crisis.
But he also wrote that if he was to recover, it was because “I’ve cured myself through working”.
The Courtauld Gallery has been approached for comment.
- In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
