After a dispute with fellow painter Paul Gauguin in 1888, Vincent van Gogh slices off his left ear with a razor and gives it to a prostitute for safekeeping.
For years, historians have been fascinated by Vincent van Gogh's ear, prompting them to devise a variety of ideas as to why the 19th century Dutch artist sliced off a portion of his own auditory organ. According to the most commonly recognised version, van Gogh hacked off his ear lobe in a fit of madness following a confrontation with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and then presented it to a prostitute called Rachel as a sign of devotion.
Related On This Day
P. V. Narasimha Rao, the ninth Prime Minister of India, died of a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 83.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indian politician and the country's tenth Prime Minister, was born in Gwalior, India, in 1924.
Charlie Chaplin, a British actor and comedian, died in Switzerland in 1977 at the age of 88.
In 1912, Rash Behari Bose led the Indian revolutionary underground in Bengal and Punjab in an attempt to kill Viceroy of India Lord Hardinge by putting a handmade bomb into the Viceroy's Howdah during a ceremonial parade in Delhi.
Isaac Newton, an English physicist, mathematician, and astronomer, was born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, England, in 1642.
George Michael, an English singer-songwriter and pop sensation, died in 2016 at the age of 53 from suspected heart failure.
1902 Charan Singh, Indian politician and the fifth Prime Minister of India, was born in the British Indian district of Noorpur.
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, an Indian, who founded Banaras Hindu University was born in 1861.
C. Rajagopalachari, India's liberation warrior and the country's first Governor General, died in 1972 at the age of 94.
Rabindranath Tagore establishes Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India, in 1921.
In 2006, at the age of 73, James Brown, the American R&B, gospel, soul, and funk vocalist regarded as 'The Godfather of Soul,' died of heart failure.
Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer and viceroy of Cochin, dies at the age of 55 in 1524.
In the Caribbean in 2012, "Arrow" star Stephen Amell marries America's Next Top Model candidate Cassandra Jean.