VINCENT VAN OH NO

Gun Vincent Van Gogh Allegedly Used to Kill Himself Sells for More Than $180,000

The Van Gogh Institute criticized the auction, saying the tragedy “deserves more respect.”

A gun that may have been used by Vincent Van Gogh to kill himself sold for around $182,000 at an auction Wednesday, despite existing doubts over the gun’s legitimacy, the BBC reports. The revolver, which was discovered 75 years after Van Gogh shot himself, was found by a farmer in 1965 near the village of Auvers-sur-Oise outside of Paris, where Van Gogh lived out his final days. Art Auction, which sold the weapon, said that while it couldn’t guarantee the gun’s legitimacy, technical tests showed the gun could have been fired around 1890, the year of Van Gogh’s death, and used the same caliber of bullet that the artist shot himself with. The Van Gogh Institute condemned the auction, calling it a “commercialisation of a tragedy which deserves more respect,” and pointing out a lack of evidence “formally” linking the weapon to Van Gogh’s death. The gun was purchased for almost three times more than its expected rate by a private buyer.