Van Gogh gallery underfire for selling ‘insensitive’ £6 ear-aser

The gift shop has been accused of embodying ‘late era capitalism’
Two paintings both titled 'Self-Portrait' are hung side-by-side at the Courtauld Gallery
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.

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, January 1889
Courtauld Gallery

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?”

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.

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