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Old 22nd June 2019, 11:26 AM   #10
fernando
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I will dare say that, while my theory was composed with feeble arguments, Naifeh & Smith findings are not less feeble, on what counts for the issue we have at hand; and calling them forensic is, i guess, a kind concession.
If the gun was brought from France, by known stats of cheap (Belgium?) production, reputedly a misfiring species, did not hesitate this time to the right job; Van Gogh to agree with such conclusion.
En passant, the dude that gave so much money for an excavated cheap pistol, on basis that it participated (?) in a famous event can, for a far less amount, have the gun examined to check for marks ... like the Liege poinçon, for one ?
So he was not painting in the fields but going on the road to the Secretan villa ... whether going to the house or only using that road. While this is interesting to fulfill empty spaces in the artist's biography, would not bring any light on the shooting episode or, one can say, makes one more tending to consider a road stalking ending with a homicide, than being seated and painting, with all time to introspect and decide to cease existing. I don't know.
One thing not determining but coherent is Van Goghs confiding that he 'might' have committed suicide, to prevent the boys getting into trouble; besides being a kind gesture from an intellectual, suits his fatality view of life. Wasn't the last words he pronounced to his brother "sadness for ever" ... or the like ?
Do we understand that, if according to the boys, Van Gogh had his own gun, this brings two pistols to the stage ? I don't think he was the type of owning a gun but, no one is the type until he is. Besides, the doctor's assumption that the shot was not point blank, only tightens the tangled knot; in the extreme, if the gun in the scene as one belonging to Van Gogh, the boys (or whoever) could have grabbed it and shoot the artist. On the other hand (quote)"a letter found in his coat was highly upbeat and inconsistent with suicidal tendencies", while not fully counting, as coming from a known inconsistent mind, is not a written text that we can read and judge by ourselves but a interpretation from an (un) suspected party.
The auberge where he had lately lived and died, together with some of his occupants and his interesting stories involving their interaction with the artist, makes part of the movie i mentioned. Whether fictional in part or totally, as all movies, is an interesting piece of history ... and an excellent participation of Dafoe.
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