Van Gogh Show Arraigned For Gifts Joking About Mental Health, Like Ear Eraser

Image via The Courtauld Shop

In the new Van Gogh: Self-Portraits exhibition at London’s Courtauld Gallery, visitors are provoked to delve into the artist’s evolving mental state during his final years. The spectacle, which reunites long-separated paintings and marks the largest display of Van Gogh self-portraits in 25 years, has drawn rave reviews and even received a glowing five-star rating from the Guardian.

The curation for the items sold at the gallery’s gift store, however, seems to have fallen short. A follow-up article by the same news outlet reports on the disdain that art critics have felt from the accompanying merchandise, which includes an ‘Emotional First Aid Kit’ and a ‘Van Gogh Earaser’. The consensus is that these gifts make light of mental illness and suicide, problems that linger today and are even aggravating as a result of the pandemic.

Image via The Courtauld Shop

Vincent van Gogh is believed to have taken his own life with a revolver. The Guardian notes that he was also a heavy drinker and might have had bipolar disorder or temporal lobe epilepsy. The tortured artist famously cut off his ear during what is regarded to have been an episode of psychosis, following a conflict with painter Paul Gauguin.

Considering the artist’s known struggles with mental illness, spectators were evidently perturbed by the choice of products sold at the gift shop, which also include a pack of ‘Depressed Pencils’ and a bar of sunflower soap wrapped in packaging addressing “the tortured artist who enjoys fluffy bubbles,” among the usual souvenirs of sunflower socks, scarves, bookmarks, and tote bags.

Image via The Courtauld Shop

“Suicide is not a joke and mental illness is not a joke,” English artist Charles Thomson told the Daily Mail. “What next? Van Gogh’s suicide pistol?”

Jackdaw magazine editor David Lee compared the gag gifts to selling “pencils in the shape of a false leg at a Frida Kahlo exhibition.” The lower part of the Mexican painter’s right leg was amputated due to a gangrenous foot.

If you or somebody you know is dealing with thoughts of suicide, please know that help is always available. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255. For international resources, please visit here, where you will be able to find an organization to get in touch with an expert.

[via The Guardian and The Daily Mail, images via The Courtauld Shop]