Why did Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear?

Question

Why would he do it anyway?

P.S if you could please include the dates of when it happened that would be great :)

Answer 1

To be precise, it was the lobe of his left ear which he put into an envelope and gave to a brothel wench named Rachel with these words: "Guard this object carefully." After he tried to drink a quart of turpentine in his studio, he was sent to the
asylum at Saint-Remy on May 7, 1889. The doctors began to treat him with hydrotherapy for acute mania and epilepsy. A precise diagnosis of Van Gogh's illness is still unavailable, despite hundreds of conjectures. We do know a few facts:
Van Gogh suffered from syphilis contracted from prostitutes off the docks at Antwerp; there was also a history of mental illness in his family. Some physicians now believe Van Gogh may have had a congenital brain lesion that was aggravated by
absinthe.

Answer 2

From the Wikipedia article: On December 23, 1888, Van Gogh cut off the lower part of his own left ear. He then took it to a brothel, where he asked for a prostitute named Rachel and handed the ear to her, asking her to "keep this object carefully". Gaugin left that month. It has been said that Gaugin and Van Gogh's contrary styles and opinions were the primary reasons that Van Gogh cut off his own ear and had a subsequent mental and emotional breakdown.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/vincent_van...

Answer 3

I thought he cut off his ear because he heard voices in his head and maybe he could stop it by cutting off his ear. Although I don't know what the story is of him giving his ear to that chick.

Answer 4

He had some mental instability, but nobody in the scientific community really knows what it was that he would have been diagnosed with if he were alive today.

Answer 5

He was a little mentally unstable I believe, and cut it off for a prostitute he fell in love with.

Answer 6

Don't know the exact date, but he was obviously a Cutter.