Van Gogh and his ear - telling a child?

[Tohru]

We haven't studied him as an artist yet, although I know a bit about him and can recognize some of his paintings. We will cover Van Gogh while studying modern - about 4th grade.

 

When I was in grade school my teacher told us he cut off his ear...I remember being shocked and concerned, but not remembering the painting or his name or anything else except the fact: 'an artist cut off his ear'

 

Today we had a substitute for co-op that did a quick overview of art, showing random pieces, and when it came to Van Gogh's Starry Night, she said he was famous for cutting off his ear...to a bunch of K-2nd graders. I'm annoyed because I didn't think it was appropriate. Plus it was pointless, mentioned only for shock value. She lingered for several moments after saying it before moving on.

 

My question is, at what age is it appropriate to tell a young child this bit about him, outside of doing a detailed artist study? Should I not care, is it no big deal?

[Joker]

It wouldn't bother me as both of my dds knew about it in that age range. I did a Meet the Artist series with young elementary school students in public school and when we studied Van Gogh they all knew already. It was one of the big questions they asked about before I said anything. 

[Corraleno]

It was only his earlobe, not his whole ear, and interestingly enough some historians are now suggesting that it was actually cut off by Gaughin, who was an expert fencer, and that Van Gogh claimed to have done it himself in order to cover for his friend.

[Tohru]

It was only his earlobe, not his whole ear, and interestingly enough some historians are now suggesting that it was actually cut off by Gaughin, who was an expert fencer, and that Van Gogh claimed to have done it himself in order to cover for his friend.

 

 

Yes, as an adult, this is what I've heard too, over an argument that had been escalating for some time, and that he gave it to a prostitute of a brothel they frequented, not a random woman on the street - which is what my teacher said.

 

I'm just annoyed that it's what everyone wants to tell children right away. Seems like most people immediately want to pull out the morbid very young - none of these homeschooled children had heard about it before and mine was a little confused and couldn't understand what it had to do with the picture they were looking at.

 

When is it age appropriate?

 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Tohru

[Tohru]

I just read the link. Very nice. Thank you for sharing it. I'm glad to know this about him, makes me like him a little better and makes a whole lot more sense than the other story...

[reign]

It is mentioned briefly on the BrainPOP Jr episode about him. Specifically that it was not his whole ear. It doesn't bother me at any age.

[mommysanders]

I see no problem with telling a child of any age. It's interesting!

 

 

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[Momto4inSoCal]

It's sort of sad that such a great artist is best remembered due to this incident that may or may not have happened the way we were taught growing up. But it does help you remember him. Maybe it's not the best memory peg but it certainly creates one. I try and cover different artist and styles of painting and Van Gogh is one of the few they remember because of the ear story... but they do know that he painted starry night also. My children aren't overly sensitive to those types of things so I haven't really had to censor anything I tell them but I suppose people should still be aware that some children are sensitive. 

[Nart]

My son is in 3rd grade at a public school. He had to do a book report on a famous artist, then try to draw or paint something the artist created, and finally present the report to the class. The teacher let them choose whatever artist they wanted. Knowing how popular Van Gogh is and realizing they did a big starry night project in second grade, I had my son do Paul Klee. Out of 24 kids my son said between 12 and 15 presented on Van Gogh. Five kids presented per day. So for a week when I asked my son how school was he said, "I heard about Van Gogh shooting himself with a gun" and wanted to know why. He said he felt bad for the kids who went last since everyone was so tired of hearing about it and one girl shouted out to the last kid presenting not to tell them how he died.

[AimeeM]

I don't see the problem, personally, and I've been accused of being quite overprotective, so there's that. Lol.

 

We did Starry Night during recitation/fine arts a few weeks ago. My K/1st grader had no issue remembering the name of the painting, the year it was painted, and the name of the artist... AND I told him about the ear. Why? Because it's an interesting tidbit. Was there value in that tidbit? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not, but that's okay - sometimes we do things just for the sake of interest, not because it holds any real academic value (although one could argue that these little things, that aren't wholly necessary, are invaluable).

Edited January 12, 2016 by AimeeM

[Jean in Newcastle]

It seems like a non-issue to me. 

[IsabelC]

It never even occurred to me to consider not telling the kids that piece of information. We talked about why Van Gogh might have done it, and whether he was mentally ill, and how it's a good idea to get help if somebody ever feels so bad that they are wanting to harm themselves. (We talked about the art too, of course!)

[Runningmom80]

My kids loved it when I told them that last year at age 4.  They found it funny.  Perhaps I'm raising sociopaths.....

 

we were at the MoMA during a trip to NYC, so they had already gotten quite an education.  Maybe the ear was not shocking by that point. :lol:

Edited January 12, 2016 by Runningmom80

[hjffkj]

That wouldn't bother me at all. My kids were 5 and 6 when we discussed van Gogh and they learned about how troubled he was. Although the know about his ear and that he killed himself they've only ever focused on his art. They get excited when they see a van Gogh print in a book or hanging on someone's walls and can identify it. I think knwoing about his life has made them care more about his art

[Farrar]

You were greatly effected by it so you're likely to be careful in how you tell you kids. Which is fine...

 

But it seems likely to me that there will be some other random thing that never occurred to you that it would be really upsetting that you'll tell them or read aloud and that will be the thing they'll remember with horror. They'll barely recall who Van Gogh was!

 

I guess my point is... there's always stuff that's upsetting and we can't even always predict what it is.

[HS Mom in NC]

It's a non-issue for me too.  I told the kids about it around that age.

[ExcitedMama]

Just to make you feel better OP I asked about the ear thing too a few months ago when doing an art study for DS. So you're not alone! I did end up mentioning it and it was of course no big deal despite my stress over it.

[foxbridgeacademy]

It's sort of sad that such a great artist is best remembered due to this incident that may or may not have happened the way we were taught growing up. But it does help you remember him. Maybe it's not the best memory peg but it certainly creates one. I try and cover different artist and styles of painting and Van Gogh is one of the few they remember because of the ear story... but they do know that he painted starry night also. My children aren't overly sensitive to those types of things so I haven't really had to censor anything I tell them but I suppose people should still be aware that some children are sensitive. 

:iagree: About any age wouldn't bother me and it does help them remember him, that's why we use little odd and exciting bits about historical figures.  It's not important that so-so did some little thing but its shock value puts it in the easy to access "memory file" of the brain and all the other info that is attached comes with it.

[idnib]

I would probably keep it from my children until they had spent some time studying his art. It's not about age or protecting them, it's about changing the lens through which they view his work. They can always revisit any artist's work after finding out something about him or her, but they cannot un-know it. Maybe it's just me, but it's difficult for me to separate an artist's life (or an actor's or whatever) from what they create.

Edited January 12, 2016 by idnib