New book claims Vincent Van Gogh did not commit suicide

The Telegraph -  17 Oct 2011

A new theory on the death of Vincent Van Gogh has emerged: that he did not commit suicide and was in fact shot by a teenage boy.

Van Gogh died in 1890 aged 37

A new book about the celebrated Dutch painter casts the popular belief that he shot himself in the chest in a field in France into doubt.

Van Gogh: The Life, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, suggests that the most likely cause of Van Gogh's death is at the hands of a third party, believed to be a local boy.

The theory contradicts the accepted version of events, which holds that Van Gogh shot himself in a field, staggering more than a mile back to an inn where he was staying. Before dying 30 hours later, he was asked if he meant to commit suicide, and said: "Yes I believe so".

But this does not explain why the easel and brushes that he had taken to the fields with him that day, not to mention a gun, were never found, and nor was a suicide note.

The book questions whether the artist, who was known to have spent time in an insane asylum, could have got hold of a gun.
Full story at The Telegraph.